Brougham, Richard L.  "Reality and Appearance in Bergson and Whitehead."  Process Studies 24 (1995): 39-43.

Abstract

Bergson's continuist, change-as-one-unit process philosophy is at odds with his discernment of a basic rift between the living organism and its environment.  This is contrasted with Whitehead's attempt at a balance between the individuality and the "relativity of existence."  The divergent usages of the term "simplification" by the two philosophers are pivotal to their respective ontological stances.  For Bergson, simplification is a mere pragmatic coping device, a tool of the phenomenal realm.  For Whitehead, past established facts are "reality."  But this reality is contrasted with the simplifying adjusting of the established by the emerging present.  This process of emerging is "appearance" for Whitehead.  Appearance (simplification) is at the heart of Whitehead's "ultimate principle", "creativity".  For him, it is the motor of time and change.  For Bergson, simplification is at the periphery of "being," relatively inconsequential.  [Abstract from The Philosopher's Index]