Contemporary European Philosophers Summary and Analysis

Contemporary European philosophers discussed by Durant include Bergson, Croce and Bertrand Russell. Up to this time, the revolt against materialism is primarily a conflict between physics and psychology. Philosophical speculation has a materialistic bias from mathematics and mechanics through the developing sciences. In addition, the expanding societal needs stimulate industry and physics. The successful sciences become models of philosophy. Descartes claims that philosophy is thinking and therefore being is ignored. Western Europe emphasizes the industrialization of material things beyond speculation. Spencer's system focuses a mechanical viewpoint. His thinking grows obsolete because biological replaces physical thought. The world's secret is perceived to be in movement of life rather than the inertia of things. Life is more basic than force in Schopenhauer and Bergson expands the concept. Henri Bergson is born in 1859, in Paris, of French and Jewish parents...