This thesis explores issues in aesthetics with reference to Bergson. The first chapter outlines and assesses Bergson's interesting and subtle theory of humour, which emphasises the necessary lack of sympathy in humour, and its generalising, external methodology. In doing so it explores the different ways the motif of 'something encrusted on the living' functions on various levels. This is ultimately found to be an interesting account which has many merits. 

The second chapter then begins to outline the theoretical structure of Bergson's account of humour in terms of vertical and horizontal movement. This leads to an account of Bergson's critique of 'ordinary' conceptual language and a consideration of other alternatives, including metaphor. 

The third chapter discusses Bergson's notion of intuition and levels of interpretation - assessing what, if any, relation there is between Russian Formalism and Bergson's own understanding of poetry. The notion of levels helps to define Bergson's anti-modernism, when modernism is understood as the self-referential exposure of the art work's own conditions of possibility. 

The fourth chapter examines several art forms. Music is discussed in some detail with particular attention being paid to the distinction between rhythm and melody, notions of repetition, creativity and difference. A comparison it then made between Bergson's thoughts on evolution and melodic creativity. This discussion is of importance not only for the light it casts on aesthetic issues, but also because music, or more specifically melody, is often given as an example of the heterogeneous continuity of duration. The thesis also examines painting, particularly in relation to duration, comparing it with photography. Bergson's arguments against cinema are then discussed. The thesis also examines how the role of sympathy functions in artistic production generally. Finally Bergson's ability to distinguish between art and philosophy is examined referring back to notions of self-reflexivity in art.

Towards a creative aesthetics : with reference to Bergson

This study is an exploration of the place of perspectivism in the philosophy of Henri
Bergson. His work is compared with that of Thomas Nagel in terms of the mutual
concern of these two philosophers to reconcile our increasingly objecti vist and
impersonal understanding of reality with the perspectival apprehension of the world that
living and conscious beings instantiate. It argues that Bergson's philosophy of time
holds the key both to comprehending and to balancing the demands made upon us by
these conflicting interests.
It is seldom that Bergson's name is thought of in this connection, his concerns more
often than not being identified with some thesis about time, movement, or vital forces.
One purpose of the present work, therefore, is to contest this interpretive slant, not
merely by offering an alternative image of Bergson, but also by critically exploring his
employment of perspectivism (both positive and negative). We pursue this goal through
the double strategy of both unravelling the inconsistencies in Bergson's· treatment of
perspective and separating his own argument from the multitude of myths, opinions, and
interpretations, sympathetic and unsympathetic, that have arisen around what is currently
understood by "Bergsonism".
In retrieving his thought from such philosophical ghettoes as "vitalism," "spiritualism,"
and "psychologism," we will argue for a Bergsonian perspectivism which ultimately
resides in a thesis propounding the primacy of perception. One consequence of this is the
demotion of memory's importance within his thought. Not that the orthodox image of
Bergsonism that retains the privileged place of memory is wrong. Rather, we argue that
there is enough in Bergson's peculiar picture of perception to obviate the need for
memory in his philosophy, and, moreover, that it is actually more Bergsonian that
memory should be so discharged.

Bergson and perspectivism

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Bergson and perspectivism