Leo Tolstoy's and Henri Bergson's 'Philosophy of Life': Comparative Analysis

摘要

The article deals with the comparative analysis of philosophical conceptions of life proposed by Leo Tolstoy and Henri Bergson. The authors show the affinity of the definitions of life proposed by H. Bergson in his work "Creative evolution" and by L. Tolstoy in his works "On life" and "Path of life" as well as in his late diaries. Both thinkers understand life as spiritual and dynamic force which effects on the passive matter and originates complex organized structures within it. Human's consciousness is the fullest expression of life. In both conceptions, memory is a key feature of consciousness which has rather metaphysical than psychological nature. Uniting all elements of life, memory makes person a supertemporal and eternal entity, i.e. shows him as a part of life in its authentic and original form. The authors arrive at a conclusion concerning a presumable influence of L. Tolstoy's ideas on the forming of H. Bergson's philosophy of life.