Tyler Parks
Intuition, Life, and the World | Bergson, Tarkovsky, and Wong
A particular and elusive concept of intuition is central to the philosophy of Henri Bergson. This philosophy, according to Bergson, moves in a direction opposed to that pursued by science, and thus in many ways it has more in common with art, since it attempts to revivify life and the world rather than establish comprehensive »images« of them. Yet, it is questionable whether such a »radical empiricism«, which would culminate in the creation of concepts to fit each singular intuition encountered, has ever really come to be, or could come to be. In addition, we may well wonder if a philosophy closer to art than science would actually be most appropriately termed philosophy.
After establishing some of these points, and considering Bergson’s discussion of the achievements and tasks of art, I will turn to two filmmakers who have claimed that a type of intuition is central to their work, and whose films have often been seen as attempts to revivify the world, or capture life in its temporal unfolding: Andrei Tarkovsky and Wong Kar-wai. While the ideas of intuition offered by these three figures are quite distinct from one another, considering them together here will allow me to bring out some connections between a Bergsonian conception of philosophy and a task appropriated, consciously or not, by certain »modern« filmmakers: a reorientation of humans to the world they inhabit, and the life that inhabits them. Such a reorientation allows for new conceptions of reality and our relationship to it.
Tyler Parks successfully defended his thesis, entitled »The Subtle Way Out: Cinematic Thought, Belief in the World, and Four Contemporary Filmmakers«, at the University of Edinburgh in December 2014. Currently, he is revising it for publication as a monograph, as well as preparing articles on Yasujiro Ozu, Budd Boetticher, and »Neighbouring Sounds«. His next large-scale project is to be a study on landscape in alternative Westerns. He has previously given papers at a number of conferences, including SCMS and Film-Philosophy, and currently teaches at both the University of Edinburgh and the University of Stirling.