Philosophical Critic of Henri Bergson's Creative Evolution

Henri Bergson in his book Creative Evolution provides an alterative outlook to Darwin's Theory of Evolution. In it, he claims that life developed from an initial force to an unknown end. Unlike Darwin's idea of a planned end, Bergson suggests that "evolution will...prove to be something entirely different from a series of adaptations to circumstances...entirely different also from the realization of a plan of the whole...it is one thing to recognize that …

…balancing force, so intellect arose as a superior complement to instinct. <Tab/>I also agree that "intellect being no longer dependent on anything, everything becomes dependent on it" (Bergson, 152). As intellect gained dominance in humans, it became the definitive characteristic of the species. Although humans are not dependent upon instinct, it keeps the species from retrogressing on the evolutionary line or stagnating and intellect keeps humans moving forward--it keeps us curious.