Henri Bergson, Noted French Jewish Philosopher, Awarded Nobel Prize

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

Henri Bergson, noted French Jewish philosopher, was awarded the 1927 Nobel prize for literature, held over from last year. This year’s literature award went to Mme. Sigrid Undset. The value of each award this year is about $42,060, an increase over that of previous years because of remission of Swedish taxes and improved business conditions, making the fund yield more.

Henri Louis Bergson was born in Paris, October 18, 1859. He was educated at the Lycee Condorcet, and at the Ecole Normal from which he graduated at the age of twenty-two. He was Professor of Philosophy at the Lycee d’Augers from 1881-1883 and at the College Rollin from 1888-89. From 1900 to 1921 he was professor at the College of France. He was elected a member of the French Academy in 1914. From 1921 to 1925 he was president of the Committee on International Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations.

Henri Bergson is of Polish Jewish parentage, a scion of the famous Polish Jewish family, Bergson, of Warsaw.

He has for years been considered one of the foremost living philosophers. His books have been translated into all principal languages, while the expressions “Bergsonism” and “Bergsonian philosophy” have been current among scholars. He is an opponent of the mechanical conception of life, and in his work, “L’Evolution Creative,” he broke completely with philosophic systems of the past. After serving in various posts as professor, he devoted his life to philosophical research. He visited the United States in 1913, lecturing at Columbia University.