Why is the tendency so strong for us to argue against our opponents by dehumanizing them? This tendency finds expression as much in daily domestic life situations with family members or professional contexts with co-workers as it does on a wider, often political, stage. The French philosopher Henri Bergson contrasts “vitalism”
and “mechanism” in cultural and national terms.
His patriotic alignment with and encouragement of the French cause in
World War I against Germany led him to characterize the ethos of those two
countries in strikingly opposing ways. I am struck, among the features of Bergson's interpretation of the contrasting civilizational forces, by the way in which he vilifies his enemy by dehumanizing him.
