Gaston Bachelard

French writer and philosopher (1884-1962)

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Lived 1884–1962, aged 78France

France WritersWriter / Author

Wikipedia
43 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1884–1962
Aged 78
Awards
2
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

A French philosopher who taught that science advances not smoothly but through ruptures — moments when old frameworks crack and new ones take hold. His concepts of the epistemological obstacle and epistemological break rewired how a generation of thinkers understood knowledge itself.

Biography

About

Gaston Louis Pierre Bachelard was born 27 June 1884 and spent his career dismantling the idea that science simply accumulates facts. He argued the scientific object must be constructed, not passively observed — that empiricism and rationalism aren't opposites but partners in a continuous dialectic. His introduction of the epistemological obstacle (the mental block that must be overcome) and the epistemological break (the moment a paradigm shatters) gave philosophy of science a new vocabulary. The imprint spread: Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, Dominique Lecourt, Jacques Derrida, Pierre Bourd…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Gaston Bachelard

Gaston Bachelard

said1960

Poetry is one of the destinies of speech.... One would say that the poetic image, in its newness, opens a future to language.

— Introduction, sect. 2

Gaston Bachelard

said1960

Ideas are refined and multiplied in the commerce of minds. In their splendor, images effect a very simple communion of souls.

— Introduction, sect. 4

Gaston Bachelard

said1958

If I were asked to name the chief benefit of the house, I should say: the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace.

— Ch. 1

Gaston Bachelard

said1958