The work of Henri Bergson, the foremost French philosopher of the early twentieth century, is not usually explored for its political dimensions. Indeed, Bergson is best known for his writings on time, evolution, and creativity. This book concentrates instead on his political philosophy-and especially on his late masterpiece, The Two Sources of Morality and Religion-from which Alexandre Lefebvre develops an original approach to human rights. We tend to think of human rights as the urgent international project of protecting all people everywhere from harm. Bergson shows us that human rights can also serve as a medium of personal transformation and self-care. For Bergson, the main purpose of human rights is to initiate all human beings into love. Forging connections between human rights scholarship and philosophy as self-care, Lefebvre uses human rights to channel the whole of Bergson's philosophy.
"He offers a creative synthesis of contemporary human rights theory, the philosophy of self-care, and several generations of Bergson scholarship; the result should be of interest to a wide range of scholars . . . Although human rights are often conceived in terms of political and legal measures to protect people from harm, Lefebvre's most original suggestion is to treat them in addition as forms o
Contemporary Political Theory
"Pierre Hadot wrote that essential to Bergsonism is the idea that philosophy entails the transformation of perception. In this hugely instructive new book Alexandre Lefebvre shows what such a transformation means for our appreciation of human rights. For him we require a new way of being in the world, one that involves a fundamental self-transformation and establishing relationships with others ba
University of Warwick
"Alexandre Lefebvre took on the challenge, presenting his outlook with the required philosophical depth and writing style that grabs the reader from the start . . . Human Rights as a Way of Life does not take the easy path of arguing in favor of Bergson without facing some of the hidden implications of his thought. On the contrary, the depth and sharpness of Lefebvre's arguments are revealed as he
