ABSTRACT

With the development of new technologies and the Internet, the notion of the virtual has grown increasingly important. In this lucid collection of essays, Pearson bridges the continental-analytic divide in philosophy, bringing the virtual to centre stage and arguing its importance for re-thinking such central philosophical questions as time and life. Drawing on philosophers from Bergson, Kant and Nietzsche to Proust, Russell, Dennett and Badiou, Pearson examines the limits of continuity, explores relativity, and offers a concept of creative evolution.

chapter |8 pages

INTRODUCTION

chapter 1|34 pages

INTRODUCING TIME AS A VIRTUAL MULTIPLICITY

chapter 2|27 pages

‘A LIFE OF THE REAL’ AND A SINGLE TIME

Relativity and virtual multiplicity

chapter 3|27 pages

DURATION AND EVOLUTION

The time of life

chapter 4|18 pages

THE SIMPLE VIRTUAL

A renewed thinking of the One

chapter 5|25 pages

THE ÉLAN VITAL AS AN IMAGE OF THOUGHT

Bergson and Kant on finality

chapter 6|27 pages

VIRTUAL IMAGE

Bergson on matter and perception