Gaston Bachelard: biography, activities, main ideas

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Gaston Bachelard is a French art critic and thinker who devoted his whole life to studying the philosophical foundations of the natural sciences. History knows very few people with such diverse interests, and therefore now it is necessary to pay special attention to both the scientist himself and his works, which undoubtedly have become a huge contribution to science.

Biography

Gaston Bachelard was born in Bar-sur-Aube on June 27, 1884. His father was a craftsman, the family did not live well, but nevertheless managed to give the boy an education - from 1895 to 1902 he studied at a local college.

After graduation, the young man immediately began to work. For a whole year he taught at Cezanne College. Then, from 1903 to 1905, he worked in the post office of the city of Remirmont. And then for a year he was sent to do military service as a telegraph operator (Pont-a-Mousson, 12th Dragoon Regiment).

From 1907 to 1913, Gaston Bachelard served as Commissioner of the Post Office in one of the districts of Paris. He even wanted to organize a postal engineering competitioncommunications in 1912, but in this case he failed. But at the same time he became a licentiate in the field of mathematical sciences.

Later, on July 8, 2914, Gaston Bachelard married Jeanne Rossi, a young teacher. And less than a month after that (August 2), he was mobilized for the First World War. In total, he spent 38 months at the front. Upon his return, Gaston Bachelard was awarded the military award "Croix de Guerre".

Academic activities

In the late autumn of 1918, the war ended. After that, Gaston Bachelard worked for 11 years (until 1930) at his native college Bar-sur-Oba as a professor of physics and chemistry.

All this time he and his wife lived in the small commune of Voigny, at a local school. It is interesting that the way that the scientist got to Bar-sur-Oba is today called by the locals "the road of Gaston Bachelard".

In 1919, on October 18, the couple had a daughter, Susanna. And in 1920, on June 20, the scientist's wife died. The thinker coped with his upbringing - Susanna followed in his footsteps, became a philosopher and historian.

Bashlyar did not stop his activities after the death of his wife. In 1920, he became a licentiate in philosophy, having spent only one year studying. And in 1922 he received the degree of agreje. Immediately thereafter, Gaston began teaching philosophy at his college. Bashlyar, it must be said, continued to teach classes in the natural sciences.

Further activities

In 1927, on May 23, Bachelard was awarded his doctorate from the Sorbonne. My firsthe conducted scientific research under the guidance of Leon Brunsvik and Abel Ray, and the result of such a large-scale work was the "Essay on Approximate Knowledge".

Already in October of the same year, Gaston Bachelard began teaching philosophy at the University of Dijon. Already in 1930, he gained the status of a professor. While working at the university, the philosopher became close friends with Gaston Rupnel, a medievalist historian.

In 1937, the philosopher became a Knight of the Legion of Honor, but this does not become his last achievement. In 1940, he transferred to the Sorbonne, where until 1954 he held the position of head of the department of history and philosophy. And in 1951, he was also awarded the officer's degree of the notorious Order. In 1954, Gaston Bachelard received the title of honorary professor at the Sorbonne.

Philosophical foundations of natural sciences

This is something that has been the subject of Bachelard's interest throughout his life. The first works on this topic began to appear in the period 1920-1930.

The notorious "Essay on Approximate Knowledge" became the debut work. Then came a work called The New Scientific Spirit, and then another Notes on the Psychoanalysis of Objective Cognition.

I must say that even in pre-war writings, the influence of Henri Bergson, combined with scientific constructivism and psychoanalysis, can be traced.

The following works written by Bachelard are called Applied Rationalism and Rational Materialism. What ideas did the philosopher present in these works? In short, in both works he systematically analyzed philosophicalproblems of natural science. The scientist also paid special attention to the basic concepts of modern science and the creative aspect.

Technoscience

Telling about Bachelard's philosophy, it is necessary to make a reservation that it was he who formulated the concept of technoscience. Today, the term is widely used in the interdisciplinary community of engineering and science research. It is this concept that denotes the social and technological context available in this area.

What does it do? To the obvious fact: scientific knowledge is not only historically located and socially defined - it is backed up and also immortalized by non-human, material networks.

This term was popularized only in the late 70s/early 80s. It was distributed by Gilbert Ottua, a Belgian philosopher. Nowadays, technoscience is actively compared with other interdisciplinary innovation fields. These include technocriticism, technoethics, etc.

Psychological analysis of the elements

This is perhaps one of the most interesting directions of the French philosopher. The scientist created a five-volume work devoted to the psychoanalytic meaning that images of the usual “material elements” have for a person. It is this work that makes a thinker different from the rest.

And the beginning of the study was laid by a small work called "Psychoanalysis of fire." Gaston Bachelard wrote it in 1938. Although the work is small, it definitely deserves special attention.

The Meaning of "Psychoanalysis of Fire"

Bachelard calls forthoughtful, attentive reading of this book from the very first line. After all, it is about a completely unique topic.

This book is an attempt to study the process of objective cognition from the point of view of psychoanalysis, aimed at identifying a certain conflict between the imagination and the mind. What's with the fire? Despite the fact that it is equally attractive for both poetic fantasy and cognitive thought.

However, the fire became a stumbling block for the mind precisely because of the defeat of the imagination. Bachelard is trying to convey to the reader this idea: in order to free yourself from the power of fantasy, thought must realize the true extent to which imagination affects it.

The scientist does not deny that the paths of poetry and science are opposite. But he also believes that they can complement each other, connect. And this is the task of philosophy. It is thanks to the unique, ambivalent phenomenon of the element of fire that the philosophical world has become integral and unreal without a balance of opposite, complementary principles.

Labor "Water and Dreams"

This work followed the aforementioned "Psychoanalysis of Fire". Her scholar wrote in 1942.

What idea does Gaston Bachelard convey in Water and Dreams? Approximately the same as in the Psychoanalysis of Fire. The scientist continues to talk about the fact that imagination is not the ability to build images of reality (contrary to the very etymology of the word). In his opinion, this is the ability to create them. That is, imagination is the ability to see images that transcend reality.

Already in thisThe work traces another concept that Bachelard defined - the poetics of space. It will be discussed later. In the book "Water and Dreams", the scientist says that each poetic image has its own dynamism, and is also revealed in a direct ontology.

As the famous French prose writer Georges-Emmanuel Clansier said, Bachelard managed to discover that imagination is something more than will. And often it turns out to be stronger mentally for a person than any vital impulse.

Labor "Earth and Dreams of the Will"

This is the name of the fourth part of the pentalogy created by the thinker. Gaston Bachelard also devoted the book "Earth and Dreams of the Will" to the poetics of the elements. However, this work is also unique. After all, this is the first part of the dilogy, which speaks of such an element as the earth.

The book tells about the work of those writers and poets who devoted themselves to her. Attention touches upon the activities of Melville and Huysmans as well. Interestingly, the French philosopher also attributed Yesenin, Blok, Andrei Bely to the poets of the earth.

Also in the work, attention is paid to the topic of self-psychoanalysis and the lessons of the imagination of the elements.

Air Dreaming Book

As mentioned earlier, Gaston Bachelard paid attention to each element. And "Dreams of Air" is a book that represents another part of the pentalogy, which he dedicated to the poetics of natural forces.

In it, the French thinker, as in other works, analyzesthe efficacy of what he himself calls the material and dynamic imagination. Particular attention is paid to the work of Nietzsche and Shelley. Bachelor refers them to the element of air.

The Poetics of Space book

Bachelard is a truly unique thinker. After all, the system of all his views was formed under the influence of the fundamental themes of traditional philosophy, but, nevertheless, he threw aside scientific foundations, desiring to study issues related to poetic imagination.

This work is devoted to the consideration of images of spaces, as well as to what place they occupy in literature and art, and how they function. A variety of examples are given - the novels of Victor Hugo, essays by Baudelaire, treatises by Iamblichus, paintings by Van Gogh.

The work of Gaston Bachelard "The Poetics of Space" is rightfully considered one of the most lyrical studies on the phenomenon of the house. This is not just a "walk" from the basement to the attic - this is a journey that demonstrates how the perception of housing and other shelters is reflected in the formation of our thoughts, dreams and memories.

About new rationalism

The author of this phenomenon is also Bachelard. He believed that it was necessary to strengthen the criticism of science, to give rise to a new rationalism. The philosopher rejected theoretical and methodological dogmatism, but did not deny that there are concepts of positivism, realism, energyism and atomism.

What is Bachelard's new rationalism? The scientist emphasizes that the philosophy of science tends to two poles of knowledge, to the realextremes. How is it shown? That for philosophers it is the study of general principles. And for scientists - only partial results.

But in the end, the philosophy of science unites these opposites. And any thoughts (both immediate and general) are limited.

The philosopher emphasizes that the thoughts of each person must come from a synthesis of experience and reason. And for this it is necessary to overcome the limiting immobility of thinking. Examples of the effectiveness of this approach are all around: two people trying to reach an understanding initially contradict each other. Bachelard assures that truth is the result of discussion, not sympathy.

Also, the scientist does not accept positivist phenomenologism. He is sure that the mind should not exaggerate the experience gained by a person. On the contrary, he must "rise" to a higher level. In other words, the immediate must yield to the constructed. What is the meaning of this saying? That science is tested, taught and verified by what it constructs.

Besides, Bachelard denies the opinion that the purpose of knowledge is to comprehend being in the form of an object. This is really not enough. The goal of science is to discover new possibilities (“Why not?”), and not to comprehend the given (“How?”, “What?”). After all, everything really important is born in spite of. And this is exactly what is true not only for the world of activity, but also for the world of thinking.

To summarize, one of the main ideas of Gaston Bachelard can be formulated as follows: “Every new truth appears in spite of the evidence. Absolutely exactly the samelike any new experience – despite the evidence of the old.”

But in general, Gaston Bachelard devoted many works to the study of the human mind, the phenomenon of scientific thought, its meaning, art. And every person interested in such topics should definitely read his works.

The contribution of the philosopher to science

It's hard to overestimate him. The philosophy of science of Gaston Bachelard was appreciated all over the world. It is worth repeating that there are very few people in the world with such diverse interests as he. The way the French thinker interprets the works and poetic texts of famous personalities significantly influenced the subsequent development of epistemology and the humanities themselves.

It is impossible not to mention that the work of the French philosopher became a reference point for Roland Barthes, Jean Starobinsky, Louis Althusser and Michel Foucault - prominent researchers in art and science.

It is important to note that all of Bachelard's main works have already been translated into Russian. Although this process began only after perestroika.