Bergson, Time and Free Will, Chapter 1, §16 "Intensity of Feeling of Effort Proportional to Extent of our Body Affected"

by Corry Shores
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[The following is summary; my commentary is in brackets.]

Bergson, Time and Free Will

(Essai sur les données immédiates de la conscience)

Chapter I, "The Intensity of Psychic States"

Part V: "Muscular Effort"

§16 "Intensity of Feeling of Effort Proportional to Extent of our Body Affected"

When we use our muscles, we have a sensation of the effort expended. Bergson argued that there are no intensive energies involved but rather extensive changes in muscles peripheral to the main sensation site. Given that sensation of muscular effort is exclusively extensive, Bergson asks what causes us to perceive it as having varying intensities? (24b)

We noted that often the whole body is involved even in small localized movements such as pulling a trigger. So a greater sensation of muscular effort results from there being a larger number of peripheral muscles involving themselves in the motion. (24c)

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Images from the pages summarized above, in the English Translation [click on the image for an enlargement]:

Images from the pages summarized above, in the original French [click on the image for an enlargement]:

Bergson, Henri. Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness, Transl. F. L. Pogson, (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2001).

Available online at:

http://www.archive.org/details/timeandfreewill00pogsgoog

French text from:

Bergson, Henri. Essai sur les données immédiates de la conscience. Originally published Paris: Les Presses universitaires de France, 1888.

http://www.archive.org/details/essaisurlesdonn00berguoft