Gaston Bachelard

French writer and philosopher (1884-1962) · France · Writers · Died at 78

Gaston Bachelard is read about 481 times a day, in 43 languages.

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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.

Academics Academic Philosophy Poetry Literature Mathematics Physics France

A life in dates

1962Died16 October 19621961Grand prix national des LettresAward1960“Ideas are refined and multiplied in the commerce of minds. In their splendor, images effect a very simple communion of souls.”In their wordsIntroduction, sect. 4Read the whole statement

Commander of the Legion of HonourAward1958“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.”In their wordsCh. 1Read the whole statement

“The mollusk's motto would be: one must live to build one's house, and not build one's house to live in.”In their wordsLa poétique de l'espace (The Poetics of Space) (1958)Read the whole statement

1942“A man is a man to the extent that he is a superman. A man should be defined by the sum of those tendencies which impel him to surpass the human condition.”In their wordsIntroductionRead the whole statement

“The reflected world is the conquest of calm”In their words"Clear Waters, Springtime Waters"Read the whole statement

1938“Man is a creation of desire, not a creation of need.”In their wordsThe Psychoanalysis of Fire, ch. 2, "Fire and Reverie" (1938)Read the whole statement

1884Born27 June 1884

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Gaston Bachelard

Bachelard - L'Eau et les Rêves couverture

Bachelard est né 59, rue Nationale

Bar sur Aube Gaston Bachelard citations

Bar sur Aube Gaston Bachelard

Collège de Bar-sur-Aube

Gaston Bachelard (kop) filosoof, Bestanddeelnr 917-9599

Gaston Bachelard 1965 (cropped)

In their own words 10

Gaston Bachelard

10 statements, newest first

Poetry is one of the destinies of speech.... One would say that the poetic image, in its newness, opens a future to language.
1960, Introduction, sect. 2, Own words
Ideas are refined and multiplied in the commerce of minds. In their splendor, images effect a very simple communion of souls.
1960, Introduction, sect. 4, Own words
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.
1958, Ch. 1, Own words

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Awards

Grand prix national des Lettres1961

Commander of the Legion of Honour1960

In their orbit

Child: Suzanne Bachelard

About this person

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 Bourdieu, and Bruno Latour all carried forward ideas he planted. He died 16 October 1962, having redrawn the map between reason and experience.

Country

France

Writers from France 6

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Gérard de Villiers58.8

Jules Michelet58.9

Cyrano de Bergerac58.7

Fred Vargas59.0

René Girard58.7

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