élan vital (vital impetus)

E318789

Élan vital (vital impetus) is Henri Bergson’s philosophical concept of a creative life force that drives the evolution and development of living beings beyond purely mechanistic or deterministic explanations.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
élan vital (vital impetus) canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (46)

Predicate Object
instanceOf metaphysical concept ⓘ
philosophical concept ⓘ
vitalist concept ⓘ
aimsToExplain development of organisms ⓘ
evolution of living beings ⓘ
associatedWithPhilosophy philosophy of life ⓘ
process philosophy ⓘ
vitalism ⓘ
centralThemeOf Bergsonism ⓘ
linked to: Bergsonianism
contrastsWith deterministic explanations of life ⓘ
mechanistic explanations of life ⓘ
criticizedAs teleological ⓘ
unscientific ⓘ
criticizedBy logical positivists ⓘ
mechanistic biologists ⓘ
describes creative life force ⓘ
developedInWork Creative Evolution ⓘ
L’Évolution créatrice ⓘ
emphasizes creative evolution ⓘ
novelty in evolution ⓘ
unpredictability of life ⓘ
hasAlternativeLabel life force ⓘ
vital force ⓘ
vital impulse ⓘ
hasCreator Henri Bergson ⓘ
hasEnglishName vital impetus ⓘ
hasKeyFeature dynamic and continuous becoming ⓘ
emphasis on creativity in evolution ⓘ
non-reducibility of life to physics and chemistry ⓘ
hasLanguageOfName French ⓘ
hasLiteralMeaning vital force ⓘ
hasOntologicalStatus non-material principle ⓘ
hasPublicationYear 1907 ⓘ
hasReception influential in early 20th-century vitalism ⓘ
largely rejected in contemporary biology ⓘ
hasScope all living beings ⓘ
historicalContext late 19th-century and early 20th-century debates on evolution ⓘ
influencedField 20th-century French philosophy ⓘ
existentialism ⓘ
philosophy of biology ⓘ
isPartOf Henri Bergson’s overall metaphysics ⓘ
proposedBy Henri Bergson ⓘ
relatedToConcept duration (durée) ⓘ
intuition (Bergson) ⓘ
linked to: Bergsonianism
respondsTo Darwinian evolution ⓘ
mechanistic biology ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Henri Bergson → notableIdea → élan vital (vital impetus) ⓘ