How did Henri Bergson challenge scientific determinism in Time and Free Will?

In his seminal work Time and Free Will, Henri Bergson challenged scientific determinism by arguing that science fundamentally misrepresents the nature of time and human consciousness.1

Bergson contended that scientific time is a "spatialized" construct—a series of discrete, measurable units—which effectively eliminates the true nature of duration. He argued that while science treats time as a quantitative, clock-based succession of events, lived time is a continuous, qualitative flow that cannot be measured or divided.1

By analyzing the inner self, Bergson demonstrated that psychological states are qualitatively distinct and cannot be quantified or numbered. He specifically criticized attempts to apply mathematical laws, such as Fechner’s Law, to human sensations. Bergson concluded that once the confusion between duration and extension, and between quality and quantity, is resolved, the arguments against human liberty posed by scientific determinism are revealed to be baseless, as they rely on a flawed, spatialized model of reality rather than the immediate data of consciousness.1