Henri Manuel · Public domain

Henri Bergson argued that lived experience and intuition reveal more about reality than the abstractions of science and rationalism — an argument that shaped continental philosophy for decades and drew as much fire from France's secular scientific establishment as it drew admirers. He won the 1927 Nobel Prize in Literature for his writing itself rather than a single book, cited for "the brilliant skill" with which his ideas were presented. France later awarded him the Grand-Croix de la Légion d'honneur, its highest honor.