Study On Bergson’s Philosophy Of Technology

With the development of technology and the transition of society, the contradiction between technology and human has emerged since the age of industrialization. There is a growing recognition that while technology brings benefits to people, it begins to control people’s lives. The technical dissimilation which has become a clear trend, and been followed by the pessimism views, means that technology will dominate people’s lives and deprive people of freedom. Facing these problems, people make their efforts to find hope instead of being daunted. Bergson as a famous philosopher in France is one of the most famous representatives in them. He has an optimistic attitude towards the development of technology as a whole which has a close relationship with his core idea, the "Duration". In his theory, the "Duration" is beyond the mechanism which is supported by the rationalism, and then breaks the view of inevitability. He believes that the evolution and development of human’s life proceeds in the "Duration", which is a creative process towards freedom, and technology is an outcome of the creative evolution of human’s life, so the technology is beneficial to human’s freedom.This thesis is established on the perspective of the "Duration", and the background of the time of Bergson. Bergson’s philosophy of technology will be excavated and analyzed in four aspects, including the "Durative Time", the "Durative Body", the "Durative Life" and the "Durative Society". Firstly, this dissertation elaborates the backgrounds of the formation of his thinking. These backgrounds states the constraint and oppress of human beings by machine, and figures out negative effects of mechanism on people’s thoughts. Under the influence of the panthelism and the life philosophy, Bergson had a deep reflection of the society. He criticized that the rationalism had negative effects on society, and then presented the core concept, the "Duration". In his theory, the "Duration" has some specific contents, including the time,the body, the life and the society. These four aspects are used to interpret Bergson’s philosophy of technology. The "Durative Time" is the logical starting point in the Bergson’s idea about technology, and is the important gist which guarantees that the technology can be developed into the beneficial direction to human’s freedom. The "Durative Body" is the key which can solve the contradiction between the internality of time and the externality of technical activity, the "physical action" makes it possible for the technical activity to exist in the "Durative Time". This "physical action" is shown in the evolution process of the "Durative Life", as the technical activity which is pushed by the "impulse of life". With the evolution of life, our society will experience the change from "close" to "open", which illustrates that technology will help people gain the freedom finally in the "Durative Society", although it have some temporarily negative effects.With the analysis of Bergson’s philosophy of technology, this thesis points out the characteristics of creativity and procedural nature in the theory, and explains the enlightenment that Bergson brings to us in today’s informationalized and networked society, that human is the creation evolved in the "Duration" with creativity and freedom which can not be realized without technology, and human according with technology will achieve freedom.