Duration and Life: An Inquiry into Biological Time.

In this project, I will investigate how Henri Bergson's concept of duration can found a philosophical-biological account of the temporal relationships between non-living and living systems. Duration is for Bergson atemporal field characterized by irreversibility, creative becoming, andirreducible plurality. This concept is shared in many respects by the contemorary theory of biological complexity, which draws on recent thermodynamics in order to study life as one type of dynamic and complex process. In the twilight of Newtonian science, both approaches turn from static classical notions of time in order to restore to time its character of dynamism and real becoming. Accordingly, together they hold great promise for overcoming many of the traditional problems still haunting the problem of life because they positively re-think the idea of time that makes these problems irresolvable. My research will show how approaching life through duration can yield important theoretical contributions to fundamental research in philosophy and philosophy of biology, and concretely how our picture of life is reconfigured when it is founded on dynamicprocesses of duration.

Trefwoorden:Biological Time, Inquiry, Duration

Disciplines:Evolutiebiologie, Algemene biologie, Sociaal-medische wetenschappen, Algemene pedagogische en onderwijswetenschappen, Communicatiewetenschappen, Filosofie

Project type:PhD project