Literary notes about continuity (AI summary)
The term "continuity" in literature is employed as a versatile concept that signifies an unbroken, cumulative flow of experience, thought, and social order. Philosophers like Santayana ([1], [2]) and Dewey ([3], [4], [5], [6]) use it to denote the sustained progression of intellectual development and the renewal inherent in life’s processes, suggesting that progress depends on the retention and evolution of past experience. In contrast, writers such as Bergson ([7], [8], [9]) and Hardy ([10]) explore how disruptions or breaks in continuity can evoke comic effects or signal profound changes, highlighting its dual role as both a source of stability and a catalyst for transformation. Sociologists including Burgess and Park ([11], [12], [13], [14]) further extend the idea to social structures, emphasizing that the continuity of social life underpins history, identity, and collective memory. This rich diversity in usage—from philosophy and sociology to literature and beyond—demonstrates how continuity operates as a foundational element linking the past, present, and future of human experience.
- The more plastic a being is to experience, so long as he retains vital continuity and a cumulative structure, the more intelligent he becomes.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - Continuity necessary to progress.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - H2 anchor Chapter Twenty-five: Theories of Knowledge 1. Continuity versus Dualism.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey - And to it, as well as to life in the bare physiological sense, the principle of continuity through renewal applies.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey - Totality means continuity—the carrying on of a former habit of action with the readaptation necessary to keep it alive and growing.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey - But continuity of the life process is not dependent upon the prolongation of the existence of any one individual.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey - Hence the impression that this dissolution of continuity is the parent of the comic, whereas all it does is to bring it to our notice.
— from Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Henri Bergson - Where does this progressive continuity come from?
— from Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Henri Bergson - It is the moving continuity of our attention to life.
— from Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Henri Bergson - "But, my dear Mercy, it snaps the continuity of existence.
— from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy - Increasing mobility of persons in society almost inevitably leads to change and therefore to loss of continuity.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - The continuity of social life means that many of these meanings are contributed to present activity by past collective experience.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey - Generally speaking the advantage of status is in its power to give order and continuity.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - The continuity of experience, through renewal of the social group, is a literal fact.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park
