Schöpferische Entwicklung
Iena: Eugen Diederichs, 1912. First German edition (Erstes bis drittes Tausend). Hardcover. Small quarto. [2], 371, [5]pp. Original gold stamped cloth. Top edge gilt. Decorative endpapers. Ribbon marker. Title page in red and black lettering. Publisher's logo on title page. Decorative initials. "Schöpferische Entwicklung" (Creative Evolution) provides an alternate explanation for Darwin's mechanism of evolution, suggesting that evolution is motivated by an élan vital, a "vital impetus" that can also be understood as humanity's natural creative impulse. The book was very popular in the early decades of the twentieth century, before the Neodarwinian synthesis was developed. The book also develops concepts of time (offered in Bergson's earlier work) which significantly influenced modernist writers and thinkers such as Marcel Proust. For example, Bergson's term "duration" refers to a more individual, subjective experience of time, as opposed to mathematical, objectively measurable "clock time." In "Creative Evolution," Bergson suggests that the experience of time as "duration" can best be understood through creative intuition, not through intellect. Binding moderately damp-stained, with spine and edges slightly discolored. Text in German. Binding in overall fair, interior in good+ condition. g. Item #31627
Price: $65.00