Bachelard, Gaston One Indication of the Originality of Bachelard's Work Is That He Was Famous for His Writings Both in the Philosophy

Bachelard, Gaston One indication of the originality of Bachelard's work is that he was famous for his writings both in the philosophy

of science and on the poetic imagination. His work demonstrates his belief that the life of the masculine, work-day

consciousness (animus), striving towards scientific objectivity through reasoning and the rectification of concepts,

must be complemented by the life of a nocturnal, feminine consciousness (anima), seeking an expanded poetic

subjectivity, as, in reverie, it creates the imaginary.

In common with other scientist-philosophers writing in the first half of the twentieth century, Bachelard reflected

on the upheavals wrought by the introduction of relativity theory and quantum mechanics. The views at which he

arrived were, however, unlike those of his contemporaries; he argued that the new science required a new,

non-Cartesian epistemology, one which accommodated discontinuities (epistemological breaks) in the

development of science. It was only after he had established himself as one of France's leading philosophers of

science, by succeeding Abel Rey in the chair of history and philosophy of science at the Sorbonne, that Bachelard

began to publish works on the poetic imagination. Here his trenchantly anti-theoretical stance was provocative.

He rejected the role of literary critic and criticized literary criticism, focusing instead on reading images and on

the creative imagination.

1 An unconventional philosopher

Gaston Bachelard did not enter philosophy through the standard French academic channels. Perhaps because of

this, his work is unconventional, both in style and in range of subject matter. Bachelard was born and spent his

childhood in Bar-sur-Aube, Champagne. From 1903 until the outbreak of the First World War he worked for the

postal service and pursued scientific studies, receiving his licence in mathematics in 1912. He was drafted in 1914

and served in the army for the duration of the war. In 1919 he returned to Bar-sur-Aube to teach physics and

chemistry at the local college. He had become interested in philosophy and received his licence in 1920, his

agrégation in 1922 and his doctorate, written under the direction of Abel Rey and Léon Brunschvicg, in 1927.

From 1930 until he moved to the Sorbonne in 1940 to succeed Rey in the chair of history and philosophy of

science, he taught philosophy at the University of Dijon.

Bachelard's influence on philosophy in France has been much greater than accounts of contemporary French

philosophy might suggest. He published twelve books on the philosophy of modern science, two on time and

consciousness and nine on poetic imagination. These have been widely read, not least because they became an

established part of the French university philosophy syllabus. When Bachelard retired from the Sorbonne in 1954,

Georges Canghuilhem succeeded him in the chair of history and philosophy of science, and built on Bachelard's

approach in his own work in the life sciences. Between them, Bachelard and Canghuilhem recast the disciplines of

epistemology, history and philosophy of science in a way which, as Foucault has insisted, is essential to