The Call of Association TF§95 Psychological Determinism Depends on Associationist Conception of Mind. Bergson. Time and Free Will

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

The Call of Association

Henri Bergson

Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness

Essai sur les données immédiates de la conscience

Ch.III

The Organization of Conscious States; Free Will

De l'organization des états de conscience: la liberté

Part XXX: Physical Determinism

Previously Bergson explained that some believe the duration of our mental lives is the same as the duration we ascribe to moving physical bodies. Hence they further conclude that our mental states are reversible just as are many physical processes. Bergson will now evaluate psychological determinism.

§95 Psychological Determinism Depends on Associationist Conception of Mind

Those who are psychological determinists hold that an existing state of consciousness is necessitated by previous states. [Mind states associate in this way, hence] it implies an associationist conception of mind (155d).

But what they notice is that mental states differ qualitatively. So we cannot deduce one from the other as if one is somehow imbedded or implied in the other [Bergson writes: "between successive conscious states there exists a difference of quality which will always frustrate any attempt to deduce any one of them a priori from its predecessors" (155-156)]. Hence they must examine the transition after it happens and then show that the transition from one state to the next may be explained by some simple reason, "the second obeying as it were the call of the first" (156a). We do in fact find in our own experiences that there is always some relation between neighboring mental states. However, Bergson now wonders if we may say that this relation can be seen as a causal one.

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Images of the pages summarized above, from the English translation [click to enlarge]:

Images of the pages summarized above, from the original French [click to enlarge]:

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

Bergson, Henri. Essai sur les données immédiates de la conscience. Originally published, Paris: Les Presses universitaires de France, 1888. Available online at:http://www.archive.org/details/essaisurlesdonn00berguoft