Bachelard, Gaston

Bachelard, Gaston (1894–1962)
A founding figure in the historically oriented French tradition in philosophy of science, Bachelard was also concerned with the characteristics of creative thought in the arts. Like Thomas Kuhn, Bachelard argued against a pervasive view of science as continuously cumulative knowledge. On the contrary, science passes through sharp ruptures or breaks in its history, each new practice of science requiring the abandonment of previous epistemologies. In general, the advance of science is a struggle against the ‘epistemological obstacles’ constituted by extra-scientific ideologies—which include philosophical (mis)representations of science themselves. Bachelard's work was important in shaping the ideas of many French intellectuals of a younger generation, most notably Louis Althusser and Michel [The entire page is 143 words long]

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