Bachelard
Contemporary philosophyBachelard was a twentieth-century French philosopher (1884–1962). Born in a small village (Bar-sur-Aube in Champagne), he worked in the post office before becoming a physics and chemistry teacher in Bar-sur-Aube. He passed the agrégation in philosophy and then defended his doctoral thesis at the Sorbonne, where he went on to teach. His work in epistemology — including The Philosophy of No, Water and Dreams, and The Psychoanalysis of Fire — explores the role of the imagination, dreams, and literature in scientific discovery.
On this page dedicated to Bachelard, discover summaries of his works, a bibliography, videos, a detailed biography, and a list of his major works.
Bachelard's Works Summarised on This Site
The Philosophy of No
Bachelard here theorizes the virtues of surrationalism, or complex rationalism, which goes beyond the opposition of empiricism and rationalism, using the example of the concept of mass.
Bibliography
Here are the essential books if you wish to gain a better understanding of this author's thought:
McAllester Jones, Gaston Bachelard Subversive Humanist: Texts and Readings, University of Wisconsin Press, 1991
D. Lecourt, Marxism and Epistemology: Bachelard, Canguilhem and Foucault, New Left Books, London
Eileen Rizo-Patron, Edward S. Casey, and Jason Wirth, eds. Adventures in Phenomenology, Gaston Bachelard, State University of New York Press, 2017
Mary Tiles, Bachelard: Science and Objectivity, Cambridge University Press, 1984
Chimisso, Cristina (2013) Gaston Bachelard: Critic of Science and the Imagination, Routledge
Recommended Videos
Conferences, symposia, radio broadcasts... here are 5 videos that will help you better understand Gaston Bachelard's thought.
To choose your video from the list, click below on the drop-down menu icon at the top right:
Biography: Life of Bachelard
Youth
Gaston Bachelard was born in France in Bar-sur-Aube, in Champagne, in 1884, into a modest family.
He attended school there, and at eighteen became a tutor at the college in Sézanne, a neighbouring town.
He worked at the post office in Remiremont while taking evening classes in mathematics. After completing his military service, he was transferred to the post office in Paris. He held this position for six years, until 1913, when he took a leave of absence to prepare for the competitive examination to become a telegraph engineer.
In 1914 he married a teacher from his home region, with whom he had a daughter.
Seeking to move closer to his native village, he was appointed to a teaching post at the secondary school in Bar-sur-Aube, where he taught physics and chemistry. He remained there for eleven years.
When the First World War broke out, he was called up and awarded the Croix de Guerre after thirty-eight months of fighting in the trenches.
From Bar-sur-Aube to the Sorbonne
1920 was a pivotal year.
His wife died just six years after their marriage.
Alongside this personal tragedy, that same year he obtained his bachelor's degree in philosophy, which he had prepared entirely on his own. Two years later, he passed the agrégation.
From 1922 to 1927, he taught philosophy and science at the secondary school in Bar-sur-Aube, while working on his doctoral thesis.
In 1927, he defended his thesis at the Sorbonne and was awarded his doctorate in philosophy. He then took up a lectureship at the faculty of arts in Dijon, and three years later was appointed full professor.
In 1934 he published The New Scientific Spirit.
In 1937, he was awarded the Légion d'honneur.
The following year, he published The Formation of the Scientific Mind and The Psychoanalysis of Fire.
His abiding concern was to trace the influence of the imagination — and of daydreaming in particular — on scientific thought.
In 1940, he was appointed to the Sorbonne, where he held the chair of history and philosophy of science.
That same year, he published The Philosophy of No.
In 1942, Water and Dreams appeared.
Last Years
In 1955, he was elected to the Académie des sciences morales et politiques.
He was awarded the Grand Prix national des lettres in 1961 for his body of work.
He died in Paris in 1962, and is buried in his native village.
Main Works
The New Scientific Spirit, Boston: Beacon Press, 1984
The Psychoanalysis of Fire, Boston: Beacon Press, 1987
The Philosophy of No: A Philosophy of the New Scientific Mind, Orion Press: New York, 1968
Water and Dreams: An Essay on the Imagination of Matter, Dallas: Dallas Inst Humanities & Culture, 1999
Air and Dreams: An Essay on the Imagination of Movement, Dallas: Dallas Institute Publications, 2011