Home › Recommended five › The Two Sources
The Two Sources of Morality and Religion — Bergson’s late synthesis
Verdict: Read this last. It extends duration and élan vital into ethics, society, and religion, and suits readers ready for Bergson’s mature synthesis.
- Author
- Henri Bergson
- Translators
- R. Ashley Audra & Cloudesley Brereton
- Edition
- University of Notre Dame Press, 1977 paperback
- ASIN
- 0268018359
- Difficulty
- Advanced · late synthesis
Print edition. Check Amazon for current price and availability.
What it is
Published in 1932, this is Bergson’s last major work. It carries his philosophy into ethics and religion and corresponds to “dotoku” on the Japanese sister site.
The central contrasts
Bergson distinguishes closed morality, which is static and tribal, from open morality, which is dynamic and universal. He also distinguishes static from dynamic religion.
Who it is for
1. Readers interested in ethics
The book asks how moral life can remain closed or become open.
2. Readers interested in religion and society
Its contrasts extend into the sociology of religion.
3. Readers completing the system
This is the late and demanding synthesis of themes introduced earlier.
Edition note
The Notre Dame paperback is the standard in-print English text. No Notre Dame Kindle edition is confirmed, so this page features print only.
This review uses only the supplied publication, conceptual, audience, and edition notes. It makes no first-hand reading claim.