The Bergsonian Critique of Spatialized Time through Plotinian Semiotics

Abstract

This article examines Henri Bergson’s reading of Plotinus in his Cours sur la philosophie grecque, where he reinterprets Neoplatonic metaphysics through his own philosophical categories—duration, consciousness, and becoming. Rather than offering a merely historical exposition, Bergson approaches Plotinus as a privileged interlocutor and as one of the pinnacles of the Western metaphysical tradition. Although he distinguishes between the Plotinian One and the élan vital, his assessment remains profoundly positive and systematic. The aim of this study is to analyze the semiotic dimension of Plotinian metaphysics, centered on the notions of image and sign, and its relevance to Bergson’s critique of spatialized time. It is argued that this semiotics—conceived as contemplation (εἰκών) and as trace-mark (τύπος/ἴχνος)—provides Bergson with a key to reinforce his notion of duration as a living and continuous flow, in contrast to quantitative or geometric time, thereby offering a philosophical renewal of the problem of temporality.