Atomistic Intuitions: An Essay on Classification

SUNY Series in Contemporary French Thought

by Gaston Bachelard, Roch C Smith (Introduction), Daniel Parrochia (Preface)

French philosopher Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962) is best known in the English-speaking world for his work on poetics and the literary imagination, but much of his oeuvre is devoted to epistemology and the philosophy of science. Like Thomas Kuhn, whose work he anticipates by three decades, Bachelard examines the revolution taking place in scientific thought, but with particular attention to the philosophical implications of scientific practice. Atomistic Intuitions , published in 1933, considers past atomistic doctrines as a context for proposing a metaphysics for the scientific revolutions of the twentieth century. As his subtitle indicates, in this book Bachelard proposes a classification of atomistic intuitions as they are transformed over the course of history. More than a mere taxonomy, this exploration of atomistic doctrines since antiquity proves to be keenly pedagogical, leading to an enriched philosophical appreciation of modern subatomic physics and chemistry as sciences of axioms. Though focused on philosophy of science, the perspectives and intuitions Bachelard garnered through this work provide a unique and even essential key to understanding his extensive writings on the imagination. Roch C. Smith's translation and explanatory notes will help to make this aspect of Bachelard's thought accessible to a wider readership, particularly in such fields as aesthetics, literature, and history.

Genres: Philosophy

152 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 2018

About the author

Gaston Bachelard was a French philosopher who rose to some of the most prestigious positions in the French academy. His most important work is on poetics and on the philosophy of science. To the latter he introduced the concepts of epistemological obstacle and epistemological break (obstacle épistémologique et rupture épistémologique). He influenced many subsequent French philosophers, among them Michel Foucault and Louis Althusser.

Reviews

[Jenny Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Epistemology of science, specifically an investigation of the history of atomism and its continuing pulse in the light of the early twentieth century physics. Personally I found the chapter “Metaphysics of Dust” the most useful, but I readily admit that my readings in atomism generally are insufficient to fully grasp Bachelard’s project here. That said, this book has made me want to learn more.