Abstract

Enrica Lisciani-Petrini, Rocco Ronchi, and Caterina Zanfi discuss Federico Leoni’s book, Henri Bergson. Segni di vita (Henri Bergson: Marks of Life) – which is not only a monograph on his philosophy, but also a research into his relevance today. Lisciani-Petrini focuses on the particular «mystical materialism», that Leoni outlines: a virtual movement creating actual dualisms, i.e. fields of forces overtaking traditional dualisms. Ronchi reflects on binomials such as instinct and intelligence, the wasp and man, the organ and the instrument: his aim is to highlight that the reality of the free act can only be conceived reversing the usual direction of the work of thought. Zanfi deals with Bergson’s step beyond traditional anthropocentrism not only at the level of «life», but also in the fields of history and cosmology.