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A Review
of
Henri Louis Bergson's Book
Time and Free Will
Chapter I: The Intensity of Psychic States
Topic 4: The Moral Feelings
by Doug Renselle
Doug's Pre-review Commentary
Start of Review


 

  Chapter:

 I
                           

 II
 

Translator's
Preface

Bibliography Author's
Preface
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
 Chapter:                    

 III
               
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Conclusion Index

Move to any Topic of Henri Louis Bergson's Time and Free Will,
or to beginning of its review via this set of links
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Topic 4...............The Moral Feelings

PAGE

QUOTEs
(Most quotes verbatim Henri Louis Bergson, some paraphrased.)

COMMENTs
(Relevant to Pirsig, William James Sidis, and Quantonics Thinking Modes.)

19

"The moral feelings might be studied in the same
The moral feelings. Pity.
Its increasing
intensity is a qualitative progress.
way. Let us take pity as an example. It consists in the first place in putting oneself mentally in the place of others, in suffering their pain. But if it were nothing more, as some
have maintained, it would inspire us with the idea of avoiding the wretched rather than helping them, for pain is naturally abhorrent to us. This feeling of horror may indeed be at the root of pity; but a new element soon comes in, the need of helping our fellow-men and of alleviating their suffering. Shall we say with La Rochefoucauld that this so-called sympathy is a calculation, "a shrewd insurance against evils to come "? Perhaps a dread of some future evil to ourselves does hold a place in our compassion for other people's evil. These however are but lower forms of pity. True pity consists not so much in fearing suffering as in desiring it. The desire is a faint one and we should hardly wish to see it realized; yet we form it in spite of ourselves, as if Nature were committing some great injustice and it were necessary to get rid of all suspicion of complicity with her. The essence of pity is thus a need for self-abasement, an aspiration downwards. This painful aspiration nevertheless has a charm about it, because it raises us in our own estimation and makes us feel superior to those sensuous goods from which our thought is temporarily detached. The increasing intensity of pity thus consists in a qualitative progress, in a transition from repugnance to fear, from fear to sympathy, and from sympathy itself to humility."

(Our bold and color, and violet bold italic problematics.)

Bergson restarts his footnote counts on each page. So to refer a footnote, one must state page number and footnote number.

Our bold and color highlights follow a code:

  • black-bold - important to read if you are just scanning our review
  • orange-bold - text ref'd by index pages
  • green-bold - we see Bergson suggesting axiomatic, perhaps quantum and even gnostic memes
  • violet-bold - an apparent classical problematic
  • blue-bold - we disagree with this text segment while disregarding context of Bergson's overall text
  • gray-bold - quotable text
  • red-bold - our direct commentary

 

Index

20 "We do not propose to carry this analysis any further. The psychic states whose intensity we
Conscious states connected with external causes or involving physical symptoms. have just defined are deep-seated states which do not seem to have any close relation to their external cause or to involve the perception of muscular contraction. But such
states are rare. There is hardly any passion or desire, any joy or sorrow, which is not accompanied by [quantum ensemble] physical symptoms; and, where these symptoms occur, they probably count for something in the estimate of intensities. As for the sensations properly so called, they are manifestly connected with their external cause, and though the intensity of the sensation cannot be defined by the magnitude of its cause, there undoubtedly exists some relation between these two terms. In some of its manifestations consciousness even appears to spread outwards [in Quantonics, we call this "quantum awareness;" it is due, n¤t classical spatial extensity, rather, both quantum coherent locality and superluminal isocoherent n¤nlocality], as if intensity were being developed into extensity, e.g. in the case of muscular effort. Let us face this last phenomenon at once: we shall thus be transported at a bound to the opposite extremity of the series of psychic phenomena."

(Our bold, color, violet bold italic problematics and violet bold problematics.)

 

 

You may need review, now, of issues of classical cause-effect vis-à-vis quantonic ensembles of both affectings and outcomings, see our August, 2001 QQA, and also see our whatings happenings nextings. See affectation. See uncertainty.

 

Too, now is probably a good time to recall what Mae-wan Ho has told us about classical vis-à-vis quantum arm flexure.

Index

Return to Chapter Index

To contact Quantonics write to or call:

Doug Renselle
Quantonics, Inc.
Suite 18 #368 1950 East Greyhound Pass
Carmel, INdiana 46033-7730
USA
1-317-THOUGHT

©Quantonics, Inc., 2001-2010 Rev. 21-23Dec2008  PDR Created: 23Feb2001  PDR
(26May2006 rev - Release page constraints. Adjust colors. Add page 20 'affectation,' and 'uncertainty' links.)
(12Mar2008 rev - Reformat index and page slightly.)
(21-23Dec2008 rev - Add 'Quantum Awareness' anchor.)

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