Bergson and Prigogine: a dialogue about time.
time, metaphysics, thermodynamic, dissipative structures
The present dissertation concerns a comparison between the notion of time - as characterized by Henri Bergson - with the results of the theory of dissipative structures as developed by Ilya Prigogine, with the purpose of discovering wether such theory offers a consistent solution to the difficulties presented by Bergson regarding time. In principles, according to Bergson, time could not be object of physics yet just of metaphysics. Prigogine asserts that he re-introduced Bergsonian actual time into physics. As a consequence, Prigogine agrees with Berson in saying that time is the most important notion to understand nature, diverging from the common opinion according to which physics should keep such a notion at distance.