The Importance of the Conception of Life for the Philosophy of Sustainable Development

Bergson’s contribution

Abstract

Bergson’s conception of life can provide the basis for the philosophy of the doctrine of sustainable development. The paper distinguishes not only three essential components of the doctrine (ecology, economy, social policy), not only two contexts necessary for its implementation (technologies, culture or a change in the way of thinking), but also the specifics of the inter-relationship among all these structural parts of the doctrine. By analysing two modalities of the experience of life, articulated in Bergson’s philosophy, it is shown how the implementation of the doctrine of sustainable development is structurally dependent on them. Each of the components of the doctrine is analysed in interaction with the élan vital and its fundamental expression in human consciousness which Bergson calls “creative emotion”.