The concept of the virtual has recently assumed a remarkable level of importance, spanning a diverse range of different disciplines and approaches. Yet in spite of the attention it has received, its precise ontological status is mysterious for many and the extent of its application to time, perception, and memory is largely unexplored and unknown. Philosophy and the Adventure of the Virtual: Bergson and the time of life brings the virtual to centre stage and argues for its importance in thinking anew the central philosophical questions of being and time.

Keith Ansell Pearson examines the nature of continuity, probes relativity, pursues a notion of creative evolution, and outlines a novel approach to perception and memory. Staging a series of encounters between Bergson and philosophers as diverse as Kant, Nietzsche, Russell, Popper, Dennett, Badiou, and Sartre, the book provides some genuinely insightful readings of Bergson and endeavours to revitalize Bergsonism for a contemporary audience.

Philosophy and the Adventure of the Virtual is a lucidly written and imaginatively argued volume of essays, and will be of interest to philosophers across the analytic and continental divide and to anyone open to the possibilities of thinking.