For life is tendency, and the essence of a tendency is to develop in the form of a sheaf, creating, by its very growth, divergent directions among which its impetus is divided.
Henri BergsonRead
Instinct perfected is a faculty of using and even constructing organized instruments; intelligence perfected is the faculty of making and using unorganized instruments.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote contrasts instinct and intelligence, emphasizing their different roles in using and creating tools.
Henri Bergson highlights the distinction between instinct and intelligence in the process of tool-making and problem-solving. While instinct, when honed, allows individuals to efficiently utilize and create organized tools, it is the perfected intelligence that enables the use of more abstract, unstructured methods to adapt to various situations. This juxtaposition points to a deeper understanding of human cognition and its practical applications.
Themes
InstinctIntelligenceToolsCognitionCreation
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about problem-solving techniques in a workshop.
More from Henri Bergson
All quotes →To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.
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Laughter is the corrective force which prevents us from becoming cranks.
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I believe that the time given to refutation in philosophy is usually time lost. Of the many attacks directed by many thinkers against each other, what now remains? Nothing, or assuredly very little. That which counts and endures is the modicum of positive truth which each contributes. The true statement is, of itself, able to displace the erroneous idea, and becomes, without our having taken the trouble of refuting anyone, the best of refutations.
Henri BergsonRead
Religion is to mysticism what popularization is to science
Henri BergsonRead
And I also see how this body influences external images: it gives back movement to them.
Henri BergsonRead
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