Bergson's Bain: Psychic Forces of Muscular Motion

by Corry Shores
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Bergson in Time and Free Will, disputes Bain's theory that muscles are moved by psychic forces.

According to Bain, our nerves stimulate our muscle fibers to contract by agitating them with an "intense physical force." He writes:

the sensibility accompanying muscular movement coincides with the outgoing stream of nervous energy, and does not, as in the case of pure sensation, result from any influence passing inwards, by incarrying or sensitive nerves. (79)

Image from the original text [click to enlarge]:

Bain, Alexander. The Senses and the Intellect.

Available online at:

http://www.archive.org/details/sensesintellect00bain