Acknowledgments

This book is the result of many years of discussions, explorations, and learning.It attempts to articulate, in some detail, what it was that struck me as remarkable when I first encountered the philosophy of Bergson many years ago.I am extremely grateful to all of those who helped me to transform that vague, initial enthusiasm into the developed argument that this book became.I would first like to thank Carol Macdonald at Edinburgh University Press for her support and faith in this book project.I am equally grateful to my editor, Souhaila Jouhar, for her guidance and encouragement throughout every stage of the writing and publishing process.I would also like to thank my copyeditor, Sally Davies, whose suggestions and meticulous attention to detail greatly improved the text.I am incredibly grateful for the philosophy faculty at The New School for Social Research.It was there that these ideas took shape.I would like to specially thank Dmitri Nikulin, for his steady encouragement and insight.I am also grateful to Rudolf Bernet and James Dodd for their repeated readings and feedback of my