Gaston Bachelard

Gaston Bachelard (June 27, 1884, Bar-sur-Aube – October 16, 1962, Paris) was a French philosopher. 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 rose to some of the most prestigious positions in the French academy and influenced many subsequent French philosophers, among... more

Gaston Bachelard (June 27, 1884, Bar-sur-Aube – October 16, 1962, Paris) was a French philosopher. 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 rose to some of the most prestigious positions in the French academy and influenced many subsequent French philosophers, among them Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser and Jacques Derrida. Bachelard was a postmaster in Bar-Sur-Aube, and then studied physics before finally becoming interested in philosophy. He was a professor at Dijon from 1930 to 1940 and then became the inaugural chair in history and philosophy of the sciences at the Sorbonne. Bachelard's studies of the history and philosophy of science in such works as Le nouvel esprit scientifique ("The New Scientific Mind", 1934) and La formation de l'esprit scientifique ("The Formation of the Scientific Mind", 1938... less