PENSER LA DIFFUSION DU BERGSONISME HORS DE L’ESPACE EUROPEEN

Guillaume Floc’h

Bergson’s thought has been and still remains susceptible to the most diverse appropriations. We would like to provide a key to Bergson’s reception, particularly that which takes place outside the European continent, by seeking a reason internal to Bergsonism itself. It is a matter of broadening the cartography of this thought, of highlighting certain orientations by which it adapts itself to the diversity of cultures. Indeed, the metaphysics of creation leads to the consideration of a multiple humanity. In the Two Sources, the distinction between the closed and the open highlights the common direction towards which humanity is moving, while respecting the divergent tendencies of its communities. There is therefore a universalism in embryo in Bergsonism, which cannot be determined a priori and once and for all, without also being the generalization of a locally situated point of view. Thus, the “concrete” universal implied by this thought contrasts with the philosophies of “the end of history”, which remain prisoners of a Eurocentric representation of the world. Through his philosophy of creative life, Bergson goes beyond the perspective of European modernity and thereby truly addresses the rest of the world, without any leveling effect, which would in turn explain why this thought lends itself so easily to multiple reappropriations. Before addressing intellectuals, it outlines mediations to bring people together and promotes cultural transfers.