An Introduction to Metaphysics
An Introduction to Metaphysics is a concise methodological essay in which Bergson defines metaphysics as the intuitive, sympathetic grasp of reality from within, in contrast to the abstract, conceptual, and spatializing mode of knowledge employed by science and common sense. He argues that true metaphysical knowledge requires an act of intuition that enters into the flow of durée (duration), rather than constructing an external, symbolic representation of it. Through examples such as the apprehension of inner time, the experience of a melody, and the limitations of language, Bergson shows how traditional metaphysics mistakes partial, static views of reality for reality itself. The essay sketches his broader project: to ground metaphysics on a disciplined method of intuition capable of accessing the mobility and creativity of being.
At a Glance
- Author
- Henri Bergson
- Composed
- 1902–1903
- Language
- French
- Status
- copies only
- •Metaphysics as intuition versus analysis: Bergson defines metaphysics not as an abstract system-building enterprise but as an effort to grasp reality through intuition—an immediate, sympathetic entering into a thing—in contrast to analysis, which decomposes reality into concepts and symbols that always remain external to the object.
- •Conceptual knowledge spatializes time and distorts reality: Ordinary intelligence and scientific thought work by spatialization—turning qualitative, interpenetrating processes (especially inner time) into homogeneous, juxtaposed units. This yields useful but fundamentally external and distorted representations of a dynamically flowing reality.
- •Intuition provides knowledge from within: True metaphysical knowledge is possible only through intuition, which places us inside the object and allows us to coincide with its inner becoming, especially with our own durée. From this vantage, we see why analytic concepts, though practical, necessarily miss the concrete richness of real becoming.
- •Duration (durée) as the fundamental reality of inner life: Our inner life is not a succession of discrete states but an indivisible, qualitative flow in which past states are preserved and interpenetrate the present. Metaphysics must begin from this lived duration to understand reality as mobile and creative, rather than as a series of static states.
- •The limits and proper role of language and science: Language and scientific concepts are indispensable for communication and practical action but inevitably cut into the continuity of duration and substitute signs for things. Bergson argues that metaphysics must use concepts and words only as indications or pointers back to an underlying, inexpressible intuition, not as final representations of reality.
An Introduction to Metaphysics became one of Bergson’s most influential shorter works, providing a concise gateway into his philosophy for students and later thinkers. It systematized the notion of intuition that underpins Matter and Memory and anticipates Creative Evolution, and it offered a powerful alternative to both mechanistic naturalism and static idealism. Its impact extended beyond academic philosophy, influencing phenomenology, existentialism, process philosophy, and literary modernism. The essay has remained central to debates about the nature of metaphysical knowledge, the status of lived time, and the relation between science and philosophy.
1. Introduction
Henri Bergson’s An Introduction to Metaphysics (1903) is a short methodological essay that sets out a distinctive way of doing metaphysics rather than a complete metaphysical system. It aims to show how one might gain access to reality “in itself” by contrasting two modes of knowing: ordinary analysis, which proceeds via concepts and symbols, and intuition, which attempts to grasp things “from within.”
Bergson characterizes metaphysics, in this essay, as the disciplined pursuit of such intuition. Instead of constructing abstract theories about being, metaphysics is presented as an effort to enter into the inner movement of reality, especially as it is experienced in duration (durée), the flowing, qualitative time of consciousness.
The essay thus introduces a method that is meant to complement, rather than replace, scientific and common‑sense knowledge. While analytic and scientific approaches are described as practically powerful, they are said to remain external to the objects they study. Metaphysics, by contrast, purportedly offers a way to coincide with the becoming of things themselves.
Because of this methodological focus, An Introduction to Metaphysics has often been read as a gateway to Bergson’s later works, where the same notions of intuition and duration are applied to problems of mind, life, and creativity. The 1903 essay isolates and clarifies the epistemological and methodological commitments that underlie those broader projects.
2. Historical and Intellectual Context
2.1 French Philosophy around 1900
When Bergson wrote An Introduction to Metaphysics, French philosophy was marked by debates among positivists, neo‑Kantians, and various spiritualist traditions. Positivism emphasized scientific method and empirical verification, often treating metaphysical claims as meaningless or speculative. Neo‑Kantianism reinterpreted Kant to focus on the conditions of possible experience, frequently relegating metaphysics to critical epistemology.
Bergson’s proposal of a positive, yet non‑scientific, metaphysical knowledge responded to both tendencies. Commentators often note that his emphasis on immediate experience and inner time both continues and transforms elements of French spiritualism (such as Ravaisson and Lachelier).
2.2 Science, Psychology, and Time
The late 19th century saw rapid growth in mechanistic physics and experimental psychology. Time was typically treated as a homogeneous parameter suited to mathematical description. Against this backdrop, Bergson’s distinction between lived duration and measured clock time addressed concerns that scientific models might omit crucial aspects of consciousness and creativity.
2.3 International Currents
Bergson’s essay also intersected with wider European movements:
| Current | Relation to the Essay |
|---|---|
| Neo‑Kantianism | Bergson rejects the primacy of conceptual construction while sharing the concern with conditions of knowledge. |
| Phenomenological precursors | His focus on lived experience and inner time has been compared to, and sometimes contrasted with, early phenomenological investigations. |
| Anti‑intellectualist and vitalist trends | Some contemporaries saw his emphasis on intuition and life as part of a broader reaction against rigid rationalism. |
These contexts shaped both the essay’s reception and the controversies surrounding its notion of intuition.
3. Author and Composition
3.1 Bergson’s Position in His Career
When composing An Introduction to Metaphysics (1902–1903), Bergson was already an established figure. He had published Time and Free Will (1889) and Matter and Memory (1896), works that developed the ideas of duration, memory, and the critique of mechanistic psychology. The 1903 essay is often regarded by scholars as a concise restatement of the method implicit in these earlier books.
3.2 Occasion and First Publication
The essay first appeared in 1903 in the Revue de métaphysique et de morale, a leading French philosophical journal. It was written as a programmatic statement of Bergson’s metaphysical method rather than as a self‑contained treatise. Later, Bergson included it in the collection La pensée et le mouvant (The Creative Mind), reinforcing its status as a methodological cornerstone.
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
| Period of composition | c. 1902–1903 |
| First publication | Revue de métaphysique et de morale, 1903 |
| Later inclusion | La pensée et le mouvant (1934) |
3.3 Relation to Other Works
Commentators frequently situate the essay between psychological and cosmological phases of Bergson’s thought. It retrospectively clarifies the method used in Time and Free Will and Matter and Memory, and prospectively prepares the ground for Creative Evolution (1907). Rather than introducing wholly new doctrines, it codifies and sharpens the concepts of intuition, analysis, and duration that underpin his broader philosophy.
4. Structure and Organization of the Essay
Although relatively brief, An Introduction to Metaphysics is carefully organized around a progressive clarification of Bergson’s method.
4.1 Overall Layout
Modern commentators commonly distinguish three closely related movements:
| Part (analytic reconstruction) | Main Focus |
|---|---|
| I. Definition of metaphysics | Distinction between intuition and analysis; redefinition of metaphysics as intuition. |
| II. Critique of analysis | Examination of concepts, symbols, and spatialization; limits of scientific and common‑sense knowledge. |
| III. Positive method via duration | Turn to inner duration as paradigmatic case; methodological consequences. |
The published essay is not divided into numbered chapters, but these thematic segments are widely recognized in scholarship.
4.2 Progression of Argument
The text begins by proposing a new definition of metaphysics and elaborating the contrast between entering into an object (intuition) and turning around it (analysis). It then analyzes how ordinary and scientific thought generate conceptual snapshots of a moving reality, introducing the notion of spatialization.
In the central sections, Bergson turns to the experience of inner time—often illustrated by the example of listening to a melody—to display a non‑spatial, qualitative continuity. This case serves as the model for what intuition is supposed to grasp.
The concluding pages derive methodological consequences from this model: metaphysics should start from duration, extend intuition outward, and use language only as a set of pointers back to the original experience, without claiming to capture it exhaustively.
5. Central Arguments and Key Concepts
5.1 Intuition versus Analysis
The essay’s central claim is that metaphysical knowledge requires intuition rather than analysis. Analysis is described as decomposing reality into stable, external concepts; intuition is characterized as an “intellectual sympathy” that places one inside a process.
We call intuition here the kind of intellectual sympathy by which one places oneself within an object in order to coincide with what is unique in it.
— Bergson, An Introduction to Metaphysics
Proponents of Bergsonian readings emphasize that this intuition is not mere feeling but a disciplined act that supposedly accesses the inner movement of things. Critics argue that its criteria and reliability remain unclear.
| Term | Role in the Argument |
|---|---|
| Analysis | Produces symbolic, partial, and static representations, useful but external. |
| Intuition | Aimed at direct, internal contact with becoming or duration. |
5.2 Duration and the Critique of Spatialization
Bergson introduces duration (durée) as the paradigmatic object of intuition. Inner life is said to consist of an indivisible, heterogeneous flow in which past and present interpenetrate. By contrast, ordinary thought and science are described as spatializing time—representing it as a line of discrete, homogeneous units.
The essay argues that such spatialization is practically effective yet metaphysically misleading, because it treats genuine becoming as if it were a series of already‑made states.
5.3 Role of Science and Language
Another key argument concerns science and language. Scientific concepts and everyday words are presented as symbols constructed for action and communication. Bergson maintains that they can never, in principle, exhaust the richness of duration or becoming.
Different interpreters disagree on how radical this claim is. Some view Bergson as complementing science by delineating a distinct domain (lived time); others claim he is implicitly challenging the sufficiency of conceptual knowledge as such.
6. Legacy and Historical Significance
6.1 Immediate Reception
Upon its 1903 publication, An Introduction to Metaphysics attracted attention in French philosophical circles as a clear statement of Bergson’s method. Sympathetic readers hailed it as a way beyond both positivism and critical neo‑Kantianism, while critics questioned whether intuition could serve as a rigorous foundation for metaphysics.
6.2 Influence on Later Philosophy
The essay has played a notable role in several intellectual currents:
| Tradition / Movement | Aspect Influenced |
|---|---|
| Phenomenology | Interest in lived time and pre‑conceptual experience; comparisons with Husserl and later phenomenologists. |
| Existentialism | Emphasis on temporality, inner life, and freedom; authors such as Sartre and Merleau‑Ponty engage, sometimes critically, with Bergson’s method. |
| Process philosophy | Conceptions of reality as becoming, influencing figures like Whitehead and later process thinkers. |
| Continental metaphysics and Deleuze | Deleuze’s reconstruction of Bergsonism takes the 1903 essay as a key to understanding intuition, multiplicity, and duration. |
6.3 Ongoing Debates
The essay remains a reference point in discussions about:
- The possibility of non‑conceptual or intuitive knowledge of reality.
- The status of lived time in relation to physical time.
- The relationship between science and metaphysics, particularly whether metaphysical insight can claim a distinct yet valid form of knowledge.
Some commentators continue to explore how Bergson’s method might complement contemporary cognitive science or phenomenology, while others maintain that the reliance on intuition introduces insurmountable issues of subjectivity and incommunicability. Despite divergent assessments, the text is widely regarded as central for understanding 20th‑century reconfigurations of metaphysics.
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urldate = {December 11, 2025}
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