Henri Bergson critiques the traditional view of time as a mere succession of states, arguing that it fails to capture the crucial aspect of time’s speed or pace. The paper explores Bergson’s concept of time’s speed through the lens of modern scientific insights and analytic philosophy, addressing critiques from cognitive science and logical analysis. By introducing the concept of “time qualia,” which distinguishes between the quantitative and qualitative aspects of temporal experience, the author defends Bergson’s position and provides a new theoretical framework for understanding the relationship between external motion, its measurement, and conscious durée. The formulation of this concept not only sheds light on the intrinsic connections between various related texts but also contributes to the differentiation between two distinct types of time speed — time-qualia-based and flow-qualia-based. The author concludes that the qualitative aspects of time experience have an irreducible reality that complements, rather than opposes, the quantitative aspects, arguing that Bergson’s perspective offers a more comprehensive understanding of time’s nature and our experience of it.
