In the light of such criticism it is important to note that Bergson is now giving attention to the problem of personality which he made the subject of his Gifford Lectures.  It is a highly important problem for humanity, and concentration on it seems the demand of the times upon those who feel the urgent need of reflection and who have the ability to philosophize.  Can philosophy offer any adequate explanation of human personality, its place and purpose in the cosmos?  Why should individual systems of energy, little worlds within the world, appear inside the unity of the whole, depending on their environment, physical and mental, for much, but yet capable of freedom and unforeseen actions, and of creative and progressive development?  Further, why should ideals concentrate themselves as it were round such unique centres of indeterminateness as these are?  On these problems of our origin and destiny, in short, on an investigation of human personality, thinkers must concentrate.  Humanity will not be satisfied with systems which leave no room for the human soul.  Human personality and its experience must have ample place and recognition in any philosophy put forward in these days.

Bergson’s work is a magnificent attempt to show us how, in the words of George Meredith:  “Men have come out of brutishness.”  His theory of evolution is separated from Naturalism by his insistence on human freedom and on the supra-consciousness which is the origin of things; on the other hand, he is separated from the Idealists by his insistence upon the reality of la duree.  He contrasts profoundly with Absolute Idealism.  While in Hegel, Mind is the only truth of Nature, in Bergson, Life is the only truth of Matter, or we may express it—­whereas for Hegel the truth of Reality is its ideality, for Bergson the truth of Reality is its vitality.

The need for philosophical thought, as Bergson himself points out, [Footnote:  See the closing remarks in his little work on French philosophy, La Philosophie.] is world-wide.  Philosophy aims at bringing all discussion, even that of business affairs, on to the plane of ideas and principles.  By looking at things from a truly “general” standpoint we are frequently helped to approach them in a really “generous” frame of mind, for there is an intimate connexion between the large mind and the large heart.

Bergson has rendered valuable service in calling attention to the need for man to examine carefully his own inner nature, and the deepest worth and significance of his own experiences.  For the practical purposes of life, man is obliged to deal with objects in space, and to learn their relations to one another.  But this does not exhaust the possibilities of his nature.  He has himself the reality of his own self-consciousness, his own spiritual existence to consider.  Consequently, he can never rest satisfied with any purely naturalistic interpretation of himself.  The step of realizing the importance of mental constructions