CEFRES Team

Anna Kuszmiruk: Research and CV

“A philosophical critique of the concept of time in 20th-century physics. Henri Bergson and the relativity theory”

Research Area 3 – Objects, Traces, Mapping: Everyday Experience of Spaces

Contact: annakuszmiruk@gmail.com

The main issues I address in my thesis are Henri Bergson’s conception of time in philosophy and his critique of relativity theory in relation to the concepts of time and simultaneity in the special theory of relativity. Furthermore, my work tackles the great breakthroughs in 20th[1]century physics, including the transition from the concepts of abstract time, empty space and absolute motion to the relativity of space-time and then to the indeterminacy principle ushering in quantum physics, which, incidentally, seems to confirm, according to the great physicist Louis de Broglie, Bergson’s thoughts on the understanding of time. Moreover, I also address the issues of accusations of irrationalism against Bergson and his contemporary rehabilitation, including new voices in the interpretation of Bergson’s debate with Einstein and the most recent research on Bergsonism.

CV

Education

  • 2019-2024 – PhD in Philosophy supervised by Mark Sinclair (Queen’s University Belfast) and Gniewomir Sarbicki (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun)
  • 2014-2016 – MA in Philosophy at NCU in Torun
  • 2011-2014 – BA in Philosophy at NCU in Torun
  • 2009-2014 – MA in Law at NCU in Torun

Ongoing Research Projects

    • 2022-2025: principal investigator in the funding scheme „Preludium 20” granted for the project „Henri Bergson and the Special Theory of Relativity” by the Polish National Science Centre (https://projekty.ncn.gov.pl/index.php?projekt_id=522853)
    • 2021-2025: The New Bergson Bibliography project: Bergson in Poland (https:// bergson.hypotheses.org/bibliographie)
    • 2023-2024: scholarship „Joseph Conrad Fellowship” for the project „The Idea of Justice in Henri Bergson’s Writings” granted by the Institute De Republika under the Polish government (https://iderepublica.pl/joseph-conrad-fellowship/harmonogram/)

Recent Scientific Activities

  • Polish translation of Jimena Canales’s The Physicist and the Philosopher: Einstein, Bergson, and the Debate That Changed Our Understanding of Time (in progress), which will be published by Wydawnictwo Naukowe UMK
  • March 21, 2024: Chair of the panel „Bergson and New Theories of Temporality” as a part of the Atelier Bergson organised by the Societe des Amis de Bergson (https:// bergson.hypotheses.org/3007#more-3007)
  • Organiser and participator in the colloquium „Henri Bergson: zapomniany filozof. Odrodzenie Bergsonizmu w XXI wieku” (Henri Bergson: the Forgotten Philosopher. The Revival of Bergsonism in the 21st Century) during the last national Polish Philosophical Congress in Łódź, 14.9.2023 (https://www.zjazdfilozoficzny.uni.lodz.pl/#c179219)
  • The organisation of the international conference “Bergson-Einstein debate on time: 100 years later” on 6-7.04.2022 (https://einsteinbergson.umk.pl/pages/main_page/; most speeches are available on the YouTube channel: youtube.com/@einsteinbergson350)
  • Co-authorship of the article by Ewa Bińczyk „Przyszłość antropocenu w czasach wojny i marazmu : możliwe punkty przełomowe” (The future of the Anthropocene in times of war and marasm. Possible turning points), which appeared in the book Antropocen: w stronę architektury regenerującej (The Anthropocene. Towards a Regenerative Architecture Regeneration) published by the National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism in Warsaw in 2022.
  • Paper entitled „Empty space, abstract time: Bergsonian critique of scientism à propos new physical theory in 20th century” at the Fukuoka Meeting organised by the Global Bergsonism Research Project in 2021 (https://bergson.hypotheses.org/1925; presentation available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30NkuEFyrs4)
  • Paper “Change or causality? Bergson on the essence of time in the context of his philosophy of science” during the webinar organised by the NCU Department of Logic “Eclectic Approaches to Causation and Explanation” on 16-17.12.2021(https://www.filozofia.umk.pl/ katedra-logiki/2802-2/