bergson - vasconcelos

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International Phenomenological Society Bergson in Mexico: A Tribute to José Vasconcelos Author(s): Patrick Romanell Source: Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Jun., 1961), pp. 501-513 Published by: International Phenomenological Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2105019 Accessed: 13/04/2009 14:48 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ips . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].  International Phenomenological Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. http://www.jstor.org

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International Phenomenological Society

Bergson in Mexico: A Tribute to José VasconcelosAuthor(s): Patrick RomanellSource: Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Jun., 1961), pp. 501-513Published by: International Phenomenological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2105019

Accessed: 13/04/2009 14:48

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless

you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you

may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ips.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed

page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the

scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that

promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

 International Phenomenological Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.

http://www.jstor.org

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BERGSON IN MEXICO: A TRIBUTE TO JOSIRVASCONCELOS*

Prior to the Mexican Revolution of 1910, Mexico was to all intents andpurposes hardly more than a cultural colony of Europe, despiteachievement of political independence from Spain the century before.With the Revolution, Mexico as a cultural entity per se was born. In

contrast to the ostensibly anti-nationalist banner of the Russian Revo-lution of 1917, the 1910 Revolution in Mexico was openly nationalistic ingeneral orientation. The Mexican Revolution at the beginning of thetwentieth century not only came to fulfill the War of Independence at thebeginning of the nineteenth by urging the political and economic recoveryof Mexico; but, what is more crucial from an ideological standpoint, itcame also to complete the Spanish Conquest at the beginning of thesixteenth century by encouraging the cultural and intellectual discovery

of Mexico herself. This ideological discovery of Mexico by the Mexicansthemselves is reflected most pointedly in those thinkers who have in-terpreted the Revolution in terms of the pivotal concept of la mexicanidad.

Therefore, if we want to understand what is new about old Mexico, wemust go ultimately to her representative philosophers. Why? Even if wedon't accept in totothe opinion of the eminent medical historian Henry E.

Sigerist, that "philosophers are the most powerful makers of history," 1

we must at least admit that they are its most persuasive remakers.Justas we can't understand the United States of America without the thinkers

of the Enlightenment, so we can't understand the United States of Mexicowithout the pensadores of the Revolution. Now, of all the "patriot-thinkers" of the Mexican Revolution, the greatest has been withoutquestion the late Jose Vasconcelos (1882-1959). To see his intellectualcontribution in its proper context, we must take a brief look at the generaldevelopment of philosophy in Mexico during the last fifty years.

Contemporary Mexican philosophy may be divided, roughly, into twoperiods: (1) the Bergsonian (from 1910 to 1925), and (2) the Orteguian(since 1925). Each of these periods finds its ultimate roots in one

way or

* The substance of this paper was presented at the Sixth Inter-AmericanCongressof Philosophy,University of BuenosAires, Sept. 4, 1959.

1 Henry E. Sigerist, A History of Medicine,Vol. I (New York, OxfordUniversityPress, 1951),p. 31.

501

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502 PHILOSOPHY AND PHENOMENOLOGICALRESEARCH

another in the Mexican Revolution of 1910. As I had occasion to point

out in a recent lecture on the subject at Indiana University, the Revolution

begets the idea of la mexicanidad, and this as a consequence begets in time

the idea of "Mexican philosophy." In the first or Bergsonian period the

approach to the idea of "Mexican philosophy" is primarily as philosophy,

while in the second or Orteguian period the approach to the same idea is

primarily as Mexican. The reason for the difference here between the two

stages in the nationalization of the Mexican mind may not be too obvious.

But, before there can be any authentic Mexican philosophy at all, clearly,

there must first be philosophy as such.

Now, granting with Samuel Ramos that it was the Spanish philosopher

Jose Ortega y Gasset who helped the present intellectual generation inMexico find "the epistemological justification of a national philosophy," 2

it was above all the French philosopher Henri Bergson who helped the

previous Mexican generation of the Revolution find the methodological

justification of philosophy itself. For what distinguishes philosophy in

Mexico since 1910 from its previous career is precisely a stubborn quest

for autonomy. While still to a large extent dependent on European

"mother philosophies" for its inspiration, contemporary Mexican philoso-

phy no longer cares to be handmaiden to an extraneous master - be it the

Church, the State, or Industry. As the historical scope of this essay isrestricted to the earlier Bergsonian period of contemporary Mexican phi-

losophy, how specifically did philosophy in Mexico acquire autonomy as

a field of inquiry? This takes us directly to the philosophical counterpartin 1910 of the famous Gritode Dolores in 1810, namely, the Revolt against

Positivism in Mexico.

The first organized public manifestation of the Mexican revolt against

positivism goes back to a lecture series sponsored by a society of young

intellectuals named "El Ateneo de la Juventud," founded in Mexico Cityon October 28, 1909. The Ateneo scheduled six public lectures in. com-

memoration of the first Centennial of Mexican Independence at the Law

School of the University of Mexico during August and September of 1910.

The lectures were printed the same year in pamphlet form. In the

foreword, we read that the purpose of the lecture series was: "to study

the personality and work of Hispano-American thinkers and men of

letters." 3 However, the real motive behind the Ateneo lectures was to

create a fervent interest throughout Mexico in Hispano-American ideals

so that the Mexican people could find a legitimate mode of self-expression

2 Samuel Ramos, Historia de lai itosofia en Mexico (M6xico,Imprenta Universitaria,1943), p. 149.

3 Antonio Caso et. al., Conferencicsdel Ateneo de la Juventud, (M6xico, ImprentaLacaud, 1910), p. 7.

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BERGSON IN MEXICo: A TRIBUTE TO JOSE VASCONCELOS 503

and thereby feel at home spiritually. Of the six Hispano-American person-

alities covered in the series by the members themselves of the Ateneo, four

were Mexican (Manuel Jose Othon, Jose Joaquin Fernandez de Lizardi,Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Gabino Barreda), the other two being Eugenio

M. de Hostos of Puerto Rico and Jose Enrique Rodo of Uruguay. The

young lecturers included such eventual celebrities of the New Mexico as

Antonio Caso, Jose Vasconcelos, Alfonso Reyes (the Ateneo's "Benja-

min"), and Pedro Henriquez Urefia of Santo Domingo, the "Socrates" of

the group.

Though the subsequent efforts of the Ateneo in the field of adult edu-

cation did not have the immediate impact on the cultural awakening of

Mexico its members had envisaged, we may say in retrospect that itssearch for intellectual independence constitutes on the ideological plane

what the Mexican Revolution of 1910 is on the political. Furthermore, of

the six lectures sponsored by the Ateneo in the late summer of 1910, the

lecture that comes closest to spelling out the general dissatisfaction with

the positivistic ideology that had been reigning in Mexico for a couple of

generations, was the last one by Vasconcelos on "Don Gabino Barreda y

las Ideas Contemporaneas." Turning Comte upside down by restoring

value to man's "poetic sense" and taking Comte's leading Mexican dis-

ciple Gabino Barreda to task for not realizing that scientific principles are

"mere hypotheses," Vasconcelos appeals to Poincare, Carnot, Clausius,

Lord Kelvin, and Bergson, closing with these daring and telling words

against the official philosophy of the decadent regime of Porfirio Diaz in

Mexico: "The positivism of Comte and Spencer could never satisfy our

aspirations." 4

This final lecture of the series, which was delivered by Vasconcelos on

the fateful evening of September 12, 1910 (that is, just three days before

Independence Day in Mexico and almost on the eve of the Revolutionitself), expresses so well the spirit of his new generation of the Centenario

that we have christened it elsewhere the Mexican Declaration of Philo-

sophical Independence. Whatever misgivings we may have about the

later Vasconcelos for his conservative turn of mind, there is no doubt that

the early Vasconcelos became in 1910, with his Grito del Ateneo against

Positivism, the Father Hidalgo of Mexican Philosophy.

If Comte and Spencer (and their Mexican disciples, Gabino Barreda

and Justo Sierra, respectively) could never satisfy the aspirations of the

Ateneistas, which philosophers could? To reply with the version of the

story as given by Henriquez Urefia:

"We felt the intellectual oppression together with the political and economicoppressionwhich a large part of the country was aware of already. We saw that

4Ibid., p. 164.

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BERGSONN MEXICo:A TRIBUTETOJOSEVASCONCELOS 505

they develop Bergsonian thought along two different lines. Whereas

Caso develops an ethical dualism out of the dualistic (scientific) strain in

Bergsonian thought, Vasconcelos develops an aesthetic monism out of the

monistic (mystical) strain found there. Needless to add, this very differ-

ence between the two Mexican Bergsonists is itself indicative of the ambi-

guity of Bergson's own philosophical position, as is pretty apparent in his

last important work, The TwoSources of Morality and Religion. The insta-

bility of Bergson's system of philosophy is due to the conflict of the two

strains in his thought. On the one hand, as a dualist in biology, Bergson

must assume the duality of origin of matter and life, on the ground that

since "life cannot be resolved into physical and chemical facts, it operates

in the manner of a special cause, added on to what we ordinarily callmatter." 7 But, on the other hand, as a mystic in religion he is logically

forced to interpret matter and life as "complementary aspects of cre-

ation." 8 Yet, the outcome of trying to do justice to both strains - the

dualistic and the monistic - is, alas, to confuse a dualistic with a double-

aspect theory of metaphysics - which is Bergson's dilemma.

To see how Caso and Vasconcelos differ from Bergson as well as from

each other, a short comparison of their respective work will be necessary.

We begin with a comparative survey of Casoand Bergson.

Antonio Caso, who used to teach with consummate eloquence sociologyas well as philosophy at the University of Mexico, was fond of stating his

version of Bergsonian dualism in sociological, rather than in biological or

psychological, terms. Making a polar distinction reminiscent of Heinrich

Rickert, he writes: "Culture is opposed, logically, to Nature." 9 This

polarity between nature and culture is interpreted ontologically, receiving

elaboration from a neo-vitalistic standpoint in his main work entitled La

existencia como economia, como desinteresy como caridad, which first ap-

peared in 1916 under a shorter titleand the subtitle

Ensayosobre a esencia

del cristianismo. The central thesis of the work is that only through love

(in the Pauline sense of caritas) can man achieve a "mystical victory" 10

over life. Exploiting for his own purposes Bergson's view in CreativeEvo-

lution that each organism aims "only at its own convenience" and "goes

for that which demands the least effort," 11 Caso concludes that life sub

specie utilitatis is essentially a selfish business. Hence the full moral

7 Henri Bergson, The TwoSourcesof Moralityand Religion(New York, Holt, 1935),

p. 104.8 Ibid., p. 245.9 Antonio Caso, La filosofia de la cultura y el materialismohistoric (M6xico,Alba,

1936), p. 160.10 Ibid., La existenciacomo conomic, omodesintermsy comocaridad 2nd.ed., Mexioo,

M6xico Moderno, 1919), p. 128.11 Henri Bergson, CreativeEvolution NewYork, Holt, 1911) p. 129.

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506 PHILOSOPHYAND PHENOMENOLOGICALESEARCH

meaning of the general proposition, "Culture is opposed, logically, to

Nature," is: Love is opposed, logically, to Life. Caso does not actually say

so in so manywords,but that's what he is drivingat substantially n hisbook. low does this Cosmovisi6n ristiana,which not only assumes aconflictbetween ife andlove but takesit to be the major"antinomy"ofethics and religion,comparewith Bergson'sposition?

It willbe recalled hat Bergsonconfesses n his last testament,TheTwoSources of Morality and Religion (1932), that its mystical conclusions

"completenaturally, houghnotnecessarily, hoseofourformerwork,"12

CreativeEvolution (1907), his masterpiece. Now, the important thingaboutBergson'sconfession s the distinction t impliesbetweena natural

and a necessaryompletionof his philosophical osition.This is significantbecause t has bearingon the questionas to Caso'sown contribution oBergsonismn Mexico.

Caso'sEssay on Existence (Ist ed., 1916;2nd ed., 1919;3rded., 1943)is importantnot onlyin that its firsttwoeditionsanticipate he "thoroughgoing mysticism" 3 aimedat in Bergson'swork of 1932. But, by virtueof havingdoneso, it also showsthat the Mexicandisciplemusthavebeensomehowawareyears beforehis French master that the mystical con-clusions of The Two Sources of Morality and Religion do not necessarily

complete hosereachedn CreativeEvolution.For, logically, they don't -

"impetusof love" and "impetusof life" not beingso congruous,afterall,Bergsonto the contrarynotwithstanding.In fact, Caso'swork is moreconsistent, for that matter, with an ethics of love than even Bergson'sown TwoSources,where, it is written, "all morality,be it pressureoraspiration, s in essencebiological." 4 Why so? Because,in contrast toBergson's metaphysical biologist, the core of Caso's philosophy ofconduct is that all genuine moralityis in essence anti-biological,he bio-

logicalfor him being identicalwith the egoistic. Consequently,ife beingnothingto bragabout, we shouldnot makea moralvirtueout of biologicalnecessity.In short,downwith the Iron Rule of the elanvital! The Crossof Jesussymbolizes he DiamondRule of Ethics!

To sum up Caso'srelationto Bergsonand his contribution o Bergson-ism in Mexico,we may say that whereasBergson showsus what is rightwith life, Caso shows us what is wrongwith it. Like Bergson,Caso is aneovitalist,but being characteristicallyMexican,he is a neovitalistwitha tragic ouch. Caso's s an Odein Dispraise,not in Praise,of Life. Now,

quite apart fromthe semanticdifficultiesover suchweasel terms as "life"and "love," Caso'smessageis of the greatest spiritualsignificancees-

12 Ibid., TheTwoSource8 f MoralityandReligion,p. 245.13 Ibid., p. 210.14 Ibid., p. 91.

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BERGSONN MEXICO:A TRIBUTE OJOSE'VASCONCELOS 507

peciallyat a timelikeours,when all we seem to be doing s makingfranticpreparationsorsheer survival n a robotworldthat might not evenbe fitfora clamto live in, let alone for man.

By way of arrivingat Vasconcelos'scontribution to Bergsonism nMexico, et us see at a glance how he differsfrom Caso. The very tag ofidentification of the Vasconcelian system of philosophy, "aestheticmonism," should be sufficientto distinguishit, to repeat, from Caso'sChristianor ethical dualism.Thistag comes originally rom the title of alittle book publishedn 1918,El monismo stitico,which s a previewof thesystem. The book,named after the system, is itself precededby anothersort of preview entitled Pitagoras (1916), and is followed by three thick

companion volumes - Tratado de metaftsica (1929), Etica (1932), andEst~tica (1936). Such Trilogy of Aesthetic Monism is completed by L6gica

orgcinica (1945) and Todolog'a (1952). Ironically enough, the Todologia

was intended to be the mystic culmination of the system and, as a matter

of fact, constitutesthe author's ast testament, but, as its title suggests(pace inguisticpurists), t is a veritablepotpourri, ealing n purelyspecu-lative mannerwith all sortsof thingson earth,andin heaven too!

Note should be taken that Vasconcelos's irst draft of his viewpointinthe essay on Pitagoras comes out in the same year - 1916 - as the first

edition of Caso's main work, the original title of which was La existencia

como economia y como caridad. However, it is plain from the start, that

even though both men look at the world from a spiritualperspective,Vasconcelos nterprets t on the whole in aestheticerms,ratherthan inethicalones. Theimportantpoint to bear in mindaboutVasconcelosandCaso,as far as their relation o Bergson s concerned,s that whereasCasoanticipated n a way Bergson'smystical conclusionsn The TwoSources,Vasconcelosnot only anticipated,but actually worked them out into a

virtuallynew system of philosophy.To the extent that this is the case,Vasconceloswas a muchmorecreative mind than Caso,thoughnowherenear as careful n his scholarship.The fact that Vasconceloshas not yetreceived he philosophic ecognitionhe deserves n Mexico,not to mentionelsewhere, s only proofof the fate of the proverbialprophethavingnohonorin his owncountry. Thereare,to be sure, exceptionsto this undueneglectof Vasconceloshe philosopher.'5 till, if I may venturehereto bea prophetmyself, I predictthat Vasconceloswill comeinto his own as aphilosopher omeday andhis work will be seriouslyexaminedon strictly

philosophicalgrounds,as it should be anyway. When that day arrives,

15 Patrick Romanell, Making of theMexican Mind (Lincoln, University of NebraskaPress, 1952), pp. 95-138; La formationde la mentalidadmexicana (M6xico, El Colegiode Mexico, 1954), pp. 109-159; "II Monismo Estetico -di Jose Vasconcelos," Rivista diFilosofia, Vol. XLIV, No. 2 (1953), pp. 137-157. Also, Agustin Basave, La filosofiadeJose VasconcelosMadrid,CulturaHispanica,1958).

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508 PHILOSOPHY AND PHENOMENOLOGICALRESEARCH

his system of AestheticMonism,whosevery accent on the coordinationof heterogenouselementsis a subtle reflectionof the culturalmestizaje

of Mexicoherself,will be seen in its true proportionsand be regardedas

a more genuine productof la mexicanidad nd "Mexicanphilosophy"than all the dreamsof "a cosmicrace" and all the speculationson Ibero-

Americanismoundlavishly in those two companionpropagandapieces

of Vasconceloshe politician,La razac6smica 1925)andIndolog'a 1927).

Whateverwe may thinkof "aestheticmonism"as a system,it hasat leastthe virtue of beinga philosophy,and not just a propaganda ieceparadingas "Mexicanphilosophy."

Turningwithoutfurtherdelayto a consideration fVasconcelso's rigi-

nality with respectto Bergson,thereare at least three respects n whichVasconceloshe disciplegoesbeyondBergson he master,and thus comes

closer than the French philosopher o the cherishedgoal of "completemysticism" hey have in common.In the firstplace, Vasconcelos emoves

the dualisticstrain n Bergsonianmetaphysicsby insistingthroughouthis

philosophicsystem on a rigorous"existentialmonism"of cosmic energy

togetherwith a diversified"hierarchicalmonism"- matter and life and

consciousnessbeingconceivedas threedifferent"revulsions" f the same

energy, that is to say, not as three different substances.16However,it

should be added for the sake of the record that after returningto theRoman CatholicChurchn his later years, Vasconcelosreintroducedhe

dualisticstrainof traditionalreligion nto his thought. This comes out in

full force in a paperprepared or the Twelfth InternationalCongressof

Philosophyat Venice, which appearedshortly beforehis death. In the

paper,which may be the very last he published,Vasconcelos latly de-clares hat Godthe Creators the onlybeing"who s not energy."17

In the secondplace, part of Vasconcelos'soriginalitywith respectto

Bergson ies in that he deintellectualizeshe latter'sinitial conceptof intu-ition as "intellectual sympathy" by making it "super-intellectual":

pathosor emocion.In so doing, Vasconcelosanticipates the very "ex-

tension" of intuition beyondthe philosophicpalewhichBergson s led to

in The Two Sourcesfrom mystic convictions.Even so, there remains a

differencebetweenthe two thinkers.Whilethe Frenchmasterdifferenti-

ates "mysticalintuition"18 from other varieties and has some qualmsabout its cognitivereliability,the Mexicandiscipleis a more thorough-

goingmystic in methodology nsofaras he would insist that all intuition

is at bottommystical, hat is, "supra-intellectual."orVasconcelos,here

16 Jose Vasconcelos,La revulsionde la energia(Mexico,1924), pp. 1-22.17 Ibid., "El hombrey la diversidadde la naturaleza,"RevistaMexicanadeFilosofia,

Afio I, No. 2 (1958),p. 6.18 Henri Bergson,The TwoSourcesof Moralityand Religion,pp. 244-245.

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BERGSON IN MEXICO: A TRIBUTE TO JOSE VASCONCELOS 509

is no difference except in name between the way of the prophet and saint

on the one hand and the way of the poet and philosopher on the other,

inasmuch as each of them in his own manner reveals res significans viaman's special organof "aestheticemotion."This bringsus to the veryheart of Aesthetic Monism as a philosophic system and to what is unique

about it, namely, its aestheticmethodology or "organic logic."

The most characteristic and novel thing about Aesthetic Monism as a

system of philosophy is that its author deliberately and daringly assigns

primacy to the imagination as a way of knowing at a time when practi-

cally everybody swears by the method of science. To appreciate Vascon-

celos's contribution and not just take it for granted, we must not forget

that, save for a few noteworthy exceptions, imagination has been me-thodologically suspect for a long, long time in the history of Western

thought, with the net result that it, like poor Cinderella,has been obliged

to play second fiddle to its more favored rivals, reason and will. Since the

turn of the century, however, the status of imagination has improved

considerably. Witness, for example, the significant work done by Croce

and Bergson to that effect, and Montague's vision that creative imagi-

nation is "man's nearest approach to the ways of primordial Being." 19

Moreover, lately, the voice of imagination is beginning to be heard from

even scientific quarters, as is illustrated by a recent contribution from the

pen of Edmund W. Sinnott, a distinguished American botanist.20 Never-

theless, to our knowledge, no man has made as strong an appeal to the

logical significance of imagination as Vasconcelos - at least not since the

time of Schelling's pregnant hunch that art is the organon of philosophy.

To be sure, as in the case of Bergson, Vasconcelos can be easily criticized

fortakinghis pet methodof imagination oo seriouslyand for not takingthe other more soberways of knowingseriouslyenough. Suchcriticismof

romanticismn logicis doubtlesspertinent,yet we must not overlook heother side of the picture.All told, we could put Vasconcelos'sover-all

contribution n relationto Bergson'sas follows. While Bergsonteaches

our contemporaryworldwhat is wrongwithscience,Vasconcelos eaches

it what is rightwithart.The differencehere betweenthe two messages s

one of emphasis,of course,but in mattersof philosophysuch differences

in accentmakeall the differencen theory.Aesthetic monism representsa further development of Bergsonian

thought in the senseit makesexplicit what is only implicitin Bergson's

defenseof metaphysicsn a worlddominatedby science, o wit, thatmeta-

19 William P. Montague,GreatVisions of Philosophy(La Salle, OpenCourt, 1950),

p. 25.20 Edmund W. Sinnott, "Man's Unique Distinction," Main Currents n Modern

Thought,Vol. 14, No. 5 (1958),pp. 99-106.

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510 PHILOSOPHYAND PHENOMENOLOGICALESEARCH

physics can truly substantiate its claim to dispense with the abstract

concepts of science if and only if it operates with the concrete intuitions

of the artist. By expanding Bergson's thesis in the classic essay on Laughter(1900), that art brings us "face to face with reality itself," 21 and by

clarifying the meaning of Bergsonian intuition, that it is "aesthetic in

character," Vasconcelos arrives at the far-reaching conclusion that the

only way of fully understanding the nature of things is through "aesthetic

intuition" or "aesthetic thinking." 22 Why? Because things, being actu-

ally "heterogenous," can only be comprehended by a mode of thought

which is appropriate to them, and the mode which fits the circumstances

perfectly is precisely aesthetichinking, product of creative imagination.

If this is so, then metaphysical truth and artistic truth coincide.According to our Mexican author, the fundamental trouble with ordi-

nary or discursive reasoning - the deductive type of thinking used ex-

clusively in pure mathematics and to a lesser extent in the natural sciences

- is that it reduces the "heterogenous" to the "homogeneous," the par-

ticular to the general, the concrete to the abstract. Such reduction of the

qualitative to the quantitative yields useful scientific information, no

doubt, but science is not wisdom. However, instead of candidly admitting

the limitations of their analytic method, rationalists (Vasconcelos dubs

them abstraccionistas)eact like the fox of the fable, calling the grapes outof reach sour. In other words, ironically enough, thinking itself is much

more "complex" than the rationalists think! Wherein lies the superiority

of aesthetic hinking over the ordinary kind? In its power of "coordi-

nation," answers Vasconcelos. This power to coordinate whole areas of

knowledge without reducing them to a least common denominator is the

peculiar property of human imagination. Contrary to popular opinion,

man's imagination is not an "arbitrary faculty," inasmuch as the human

mind, besides having the built-in set of categories that Kant assigns to it,is "also endowed with special forms of understanding applicable to the

aesthetic phenomenon," namely, "rhythm, melody, and harmony." 23

This "aesthetic trinity" - rhythm, melody, harmony - constitutes by the

way Vasconcelos's AprioriEsteitco the discovery of which he claimed to

be "in large part" his own.24 Now then, whatever be our opinion of this

Mexican variety of Aesthetic Transcendentalism, there is something quite

refreshing and instructive about its attempt to effect via the imagination

a concordance of reason and emotion, especially when we have so-called

21 HenriBergson, Laughter New York, Macmillan,1911), p. 157.22 Jose Vasconcelos,Todologia M6xico,Botas, 1952),p. 156, p. 55.23 Ibid., p. 193. Also, "The Aesthetic Development of Creation," in Papers and

Abstractsof the Second Inter-AmericanCongressof Philosophy (New York, ColumbiaUniversity Press, 1947), p. 124.

24 Ibid., Estetica(3rd. ed., M6xico,Botas, 1945), p. 215, p. 641.

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BERGSONN MEXICO:A TRIBUTEO JOSE'VASCONCELOS 511

cognitivists" and "emotivists" these days who separate the two unneces-sarily. So much for the second or methodological respect in which Vascon-celos goes beyond Bergson.

In the third and final place, Vasconcelos carries mysticism further thanBergson not only because he is a more thoroughgoing monist in meta-physics and a more thoroughgoing intuitionist in methodology, but be-cause he is a more thoroughgoing mystic in practical philosophy. Thisraises the delicate yet crucial question as to the whole aim of mysticismand the definition of the ideal mystic.

According to Bergson, "the ultimate end of mysticism is the establish-ment of a contact, consequently of a partial coincidence, with the creative

effort which life itself manifests. This effort is of God, if it is not GodHimself. The great mystic is to be conceived as an individual being,capable of transcending the limitations imposed on the species by itsmaterial nature, thus continuing and extending the divine action. Suchis our definition." 25 This is Bergson's definition of complete mysticismand the great mystic, but not Vasconcelos's. On the contrary, in the eyesof our Mexican philosopher, the ultimate objective of mysticism is not toseek an "identity" or coincidence, partial or total, but a "harmony" ofcreature and Creator.26In a word, mysticism is not pantheism. Moreover,

the really great mystic for Vasconcelos would be that exceptional personwho not only succeeds "in triumphing over materiality," 27 as Bergsonrightly maintains, but who succeeds also in transcending the limitationsof life itself, that is, in triumphing over vitality. Of the two foregoingviews, which reveals greater insight into the question at issue?

If a nonmystic like myself can speak here at all about something ad-mittedly ineffable, I suspect that Vasconcelos's view is more in keepingwith the mystical experience itself than Bergson's - the latter sounding abit

too sensible and too secular to fit the exceedingly peculiar logic of thesituation. For one thing, Bergson's conception of the ideal mystic is suchthat his model individual is kept so occupied with divine business that hehas no time to pause and listen to the voice of God. Bergson identifiescomplete mysticism with the mysticism of Christianity, but his humanisticinterpretation of the latter would be quickly challenged by the Christianmystics themselves. According to Vasconcelos, who speaks for them, theultimate goal of la mistica, which constitutes "the supreme science," isattainable only through the "supernatural operation" of grace, that is,

through the gift of God, not through any efforts of man.28In this connection, Bergson may be quite justified in insisting that

25 Henri Bergson,The TwoSourcesof Moralityand Religion,p. 209.26 Jose Vasconcelos,Todologia,p. 73.27 HenriBergson, The TwoSourcesof Moralityand Religion,p. 246.28 Jose Vasconcelos,Todologia,p. 244.

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512 PHILOSOPHY AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH

"complete mysticism is action," 29 and not mere contemplation. But I am

afraid he is on the wrong track when he insists at the same time that the

distinguishing mark of a thoroughgoing mysticism is its faith "in the

efficacy of human action," 30 and concludes therefrom that it is this faith

which makes the mysticism of Christianity superior to the other historic

forms of mysticism. For his conclusion about the superiority of Christian

mysticism, however true, is based on the dubious assumption that the

Christian mystic actually believes in the efficacy of human action. No,

Vasconcelos would contend that what makes Christian mysticism a com-

plete, "active mysticism" is its complete faith in the efficacy of divine, not

human, action. Otherwise, what would distinguish Christian mysticism

from ethical humanism? Besides, the Mexican author thinks that "thereis a profound difference between the religious and the ethical," the ethical

enjoying in his philosophic system only a "secondary rank." 31 Whereas

the essence of religion resides in "knowing how to forgive," the essence of

morality lies in knowing how to give and take - justice being simply a

calculating matter of checks and balances.32

To recapitulate, the most interesting feature of Aesthetic Monism when

compared with Bergson's philosophy, is that it culminates in mysticism

by way of artistic experience, rather than by way of moral experience.

Hence whatever differences exist between Bergson and Vasconcelos inphilosophical thought are due ultimately to the fact that the former's

final mysticism stems from ethical concerns, the latter's from aesthetic

ones. This being the case, it follows from the preceding considerations

that an aesthetic mystic like Vasconcelos, who had his ear tuned to the

music of the spheres and, as a result, was apt to be more receptive to the

voice of God, is a better mystic in theory - though not necessarily a better

moralist - than an ethical mystic like Bergson, whose chief concern was

the improvement or "the conquest of the world."33

Even though Bergsonhimself was convinced that the Christian mystics exemplify in history

what he called complete mysticism, it seems that he had too much of the

aura of the Jewish prophets in his cultural background and in his own

soul to adopt a full-fledged Christian mysticism. In any event, whoever

is correct about the essence of mysticism, Vasconcelos holds with Schopen-

hauer, as against Bergson, that the ultimate goal of human life is "to

transcend life," not "to create" it.34 In short, like his compatriot Antonio

Caso, Vasconcelos was a radical pessimist about life.

29 Henri Bergson, The Two Sourcesof Moralityand Religion, p. 215.30 Ibid., p. 214.31 Jos6 Vasconcelos,Todologict, . 164.32 Ibid., p. 165.

33 Henri Bergson, TheTwo Sourcesof Moralityand Religion,p. 229.34 Jose Vasconcelos,Tratadodemetaftica (M6xico,M6xicoJoven, 1929), p. 205.

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BERGSONIN MEXICO:A TRIBUTE TO JOSE'VASCONCELOS 513

With these brief comments on mysticism, we bring to a close this ac-

count of the influence of Bergson in Mexico. Of the three main contri-

butions of contemporary Mexican philosophy - (1) development ofBergsonism, (2) development of the idea of a national philosophy, (3)

development of a tragic sense of life - our study has been limited to a

discussion of the first contribution - which is the foremost to be made so

far in Mexico. Mexican Bergsonism, which was born with the Revolution

as a reaction against positivism, develops after 1910 along two lines, each

corresponding to a strain of Bergsonian thought. In the first part of our

memorial tribute to Vasconcelos, I have tried to show in summary

fashion, for purposes of contrast, that Antonio Caso represents a more

consistent version in Mexico of Bergson the dualist in that he developedan unashamed Christiandualism. In the second part, the attempt has been

to show in some detail that Jose Vasconcelos represents a more consistent

version in Mexico of Bergson the mystic in that he in turn developed an

unashamed Catholic mysticism. Reference has already been made to the

fact that in 1941, the year of Bergson's death, Vasconcelos paid great

tribute to the French master in his article "Bergson en Mexico," published

in Mexico's principal philosophical journal, Filosofta y Letras.35Henceforth

the year 1959 will always be remembered in the annals of Western phi-

losophy as both the centennial of Henri Bergson's birth and the year whenhis greatest disciple in Latin America, Jose Vasconcelos of Mexico, died.

PATRICK ROMANELL.

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS,

MEDICALBRANCH, GALVESTON.

35 TomoI, No. 2 (1941), pp. 239-253.