"Bergson Beyond Boundaries. Philosophy, Literature, and the Art of Thought". Bruno Clément guest lecture (Glasgow, Scotland & on line)

You are warmly invited to attend the Edward Taylor Memorial (hybrid)

Guest Lecture 

 Professor Bruno Clément (University of Paris 8)

in association with the Research Cluster Critical Editions and translation (SMLC).

Bruno Clément

Lecture Title: Bergson Beyond Boundaries: Philosophy, Literature, and the Art of Thought

Date & Time: 8 May, 5:00–6:00 PM

Location: CTT Adam Smith Building, Room 282 (Hothouse)

Language: The lecture will be delivered in French, with English translation provided.

This is an hybrid event.

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To connect:

Sujet: Bruno Clément guest lecture

Heure: 8 mai 2025 05:00 PM Londres

Participer à la réunion Zoom:
https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/86336426236?pwd=duICb0sKai98WCmZocGxpEvB4S84WD.1

ID de réunion: 863 3642 6236 Code secret: 771459

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Professor Bruno Clément will give two different lectures in Scotland: the first at the French Institute at Edinburgh on 7 May, and the second at the University of Glasgow on 8 May. This is a great occasion to recall that Henri Bergson delivered his first series of eleven lectures on "The Problem of Personality" in the Gifford lectures series at the University of Edinburgh. Unfortunately, the outbreak of the First World War prevented the continuation of a planned second series in 1914.
 
Henri Bergson (1859-1941) rose to fame not only because of his engagement with the scientific developments of his time, but also due to his political influence - as a respected interlocutor of President Woodrow Wilson - and his connections with the arts (his daughter was a sculptor). Bergson was also a bilingual thinker, writing in both French and English.

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About the Book: Bergson as a writer (Press of the University of Edinburgh, 2025)
 
Bergson as Writer explores the role of expression in the creation of philosophical meaning in Bergson's work. Although awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1927, Bergson has rarely been considered a literary figure by writers. Bruno Clément reinterprets Bergson as a writer whose philosophical thought is inseparable from a persistent reflection on the act of writing itself.

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Abstract : Guest lecture: Bergson Beyond Boundaries: Philosophy, Literature, and the Art of Thought
 
This talk explores four fundamental dimensions of Bergson’s thought, approached as interconnected philosophical gestures. First, it examines the question of philosophical expression: how should a philosopher write, given that philosophers are also writers? This foundational concern, central to Bergson's work, runs throughout his thinking. Second, attention is given to one of Bergson’s more enigmatic statements — “philosophy is not art, but it has deep affinities with art” — in order to unpack its implications for the nature of philosophy and its relationship with various art forms. Third, the presentation will address the role of imagination in the development of theoretical thought, particularly through the status Bergson grants to fiction in The Two Sources of Morality and Religion. Finally, the pedagogical consequences of these positions will be briefly examined, drawing from Bergson’s often sharp remarks on the teaching of philosophy and its problematic dependence on concepts. Throughout these four sections, the aim is to show how each illuminates and supports the others, while highlighting the primary gesture: to think philosophy from the perspective of its mode of expression.
 
 The lecture will be followed by a discussion and drinks
 
All interested are welcome to attend.