Deleuze's Reading of Bergson's Élan Vital: Life as Creative Differentiation, Not Mystical Force
Henri Bergson's concept of élan vital, presented in Creative Evolution (1907), is frequently misunderstood as a mystical energy. Gilles Deleuze's interpretation of Bergsonism describes it as a process of differentiation that brings forth a virtual totality. Bergson challenges both radical mechanism and finalism, suggesting a refined version of finalism where true purpose does not exist beforehand. Life advances through dissociation, with elements like independent cells demonstrating autonomy. Solutions for energy utilization include vegetative torpor, instinct, and intelligence, which coexist. Deleuze makes a distinction between actualization and realization, highlighting that evolution entails authentic novelty. The Collector's article showcases works from Vincent van Gogh, Albrecht Dürer, William Blake, Gustav Klimt, Claude Monet, and J. M. W. Turner.
Key facts
- Henri Bergson published Creative Evolution in 1907, introducing the élan vital.
- Gilles Deleuze's book Bergsonism argues the élan vital is a movement of differentiation, not a mystical force.
- Bergson rejects radical mechanism, epitomized by Laplace's demon, and radical finalism, or teleology.
- Bergson prefers finalism to mechanism but insists finality does not imply a pre-existing goal.
- Life advances by dissociation: virtual tendencies meet material resistance and split into divergent lines.
- Vegetative torpor, instinct, and intelligence are divergent solutions to the problem of storing and releasing energy.
- Deleuze distinguishes actualization, which produces non-resembling forms, from realization, which unfolds pre-formed possibilities.
- For Deleuze, the élan vital is where duration, memory, and life converge, making difference primary over identity.
Entities
Artists
- Henri Bergson
- Gilles Deleuze
- Bertrand Russell
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- Albert Einstein
- Vincent van Gogh
- Albrecht Dürer
- William Blake
- Gustav Klimt
- Claude Monet
- J. M. W. Turner
Institutions
- The Collector
- Albertina Museum
- William Blake Archive
- Stoclet Palace
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Tate Britain
Locations
- Vienna
- Austria
- Brussels
- Belgium
- Chicago
- United States
- London
- United Kingdom