Atomistic Intuitions by Gaston Bachelard

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Atomistic Intuitions by Gaston Bachelard

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Summary

An English translation of Bachelard's sixth book, in which he seeks to develop a metaphysical context for modern atomistic science.

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Atomistic Intuitions by Gaston Bachelard

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.
"…[Bachelard's] analysis of the different schools of thought on the nature of atomism was quite illuminating … his challenge both to natural scientists and to philosophers and theologians to construct a metaphysical system not as an end in itself but as a tool for further research and reflection was quite thought-provoking" — Process Studies
Roch C. Smith is Professor Emeritus of French Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is the author of Gaston Bachelard, Revised and Updated: Philosopher of Science and Imagination, also published by SUNY Press, as well as books on Alain Robbe-Grillet and André Malraux.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9781438471280
ISBN 10 1438471289
Title Atomistic Intuitions
Author Gaston Bachelard
Series Suny Series In Contemporary French Thought
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher State University of New York Press
Year published 2019-07-02
Number of pages 152
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note Unavailable