Bergson and Freedom as an Expression of Life

Abstract

Discussing freedom of expression and democracy in Bergson's work may seem a risky undertaking, since the author did not directly address the subject, in modern political terms, as a right associated with a form of government. However, his work provides us with multiple opportunities to think about these issues. In The Two Sources of Morality and Religion (1932), Bergson distinguishes between closed and open societies. While the former is characterized by fixed rules and motivated by the instinct for self-preservation, the latter is linked to a morality that includes all of humanity and has as its condition and principle an universal love. It presents itself as a social organization that allows freedom and welcomes individuality. In an open society, we have the possibility of a living democracy, which is constantly being created, driven by individuals who act from their inner selves, freely expressing their identity. According to Stull (2022), for Bergson, democracy is an “event,” an emergence of ethical and political potentialities that do not manifest themselves in other political systems. Democracy itself, in accordance with Bergsonian ontology, is a creative process, associated with freedom, as an expression of the deep self. Freedom is, in effect, conceived by Bergson as the inner expression of life in its fullness. In the Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness (1889), freedom is presented as the act of the deep self, which occurs in duration. This freedom, says Sinclair (2021), is expressive, just like the creation of a work of art, which manifests the interiority of the subject. Nagase suggests that freedom, at the same time, implies a responsibility, forming what Bergson calls, in Matter and Memory (1896), a “reasonable freedom.” The profound question, states Pommier (2010), is embodiment, as well as our relationship with the world. Only intuition can produce harmony between action and inner life. Democracy aims to allow this expression to occur freely, but within institutional frameworks. Freedom is a vital force, an expression of life, as Bergson shows in Creative Evolution (1907). It manifests itself in all realities, whether human or natural. For human beings, democracy represents the political system that allows creativity and freedom within an institutional framework that organizes social life in such a way that the freedom of some does not become a threat to the freedom of others. It is this complex problem that we intend to analyze.