Gaston Bachelard
Gaston Bachelard
Gaston Bachelardwas a French philosopher. He made contributions in the fields of poetics and the philosophy of science. To the latter he introduced the concepts of epistemological obstacle and epistemological break. He influenced many subsequent French philosophers, among them Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, Dominique Lecourt and Jacques Derrida, as well as the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth27 June 1884
CountryFrance
sleep insomnia soul
Sleep refreshes only the body. It rarely sets the soul at rest
fire fields rich
At all times and in all fields the explanation by fire is a rich explanation.
substance nouns body
What action could bodies and substances have if they were not named in a further increase of dignity where common nouns become proper nouns?
knowledge cutting exercise
In scientific thought, the concept functions all the better for being cut off from all background images. In its full exercise, the scientific concept is free from all the delays of its genetic evolution, an evolution which is consequently explained by simple psychology. The virility of knowledge increases with each conquest of the constructive abstraction.
destiny men deep-water
To disappear into deep water or to disappear toward a far horizon, to become part of depth of infinity, such is the destiny of man that finds its image in the destiny of water.
miscellaneous resisting
We understand nature by resisting it.
individuality age force
In our life as a civilized person in the industrial age, we are invaded by objects; how could an object have a "force" when it no longer has individuality?
poetic surface
The poetic image is a sudden salience on the surface of the psyche
causality poetic
The poetic image exists apart from causality.
determination space intimacy
For a knowledge of intimacy, localization in the spaces of our intimacy is more urgent than determination of dates.
states impermanence finality
It is better to live in a state of impermanence than in one of finality.
beauty book together
A book is a human fact; a great book like Seraphita gathers together numerous psychological elements. These elements become coherent through a sort of psychological beauty. It does the reader a service.
time world helping
Cosmic reveries separate us from project reveries. They situate us in a world and not in a society. The cosmic reverie possesses a sort of stability or tranquility. It helps us escape time. It is a state.
time memories real
Reverie is commonly classified among the phenomena of psychic detente. It is lived out in a relaxed time which has no linking force. Since it functions with inattention, it is often without memory. It is a flight from out of the real that does not always find a consistent unreal world.