Adventures in Phenomenology: Gaston Bachelard (SUNY series in Contemporary French Thought)

Repositions Bachelard as a critical and integral part of contemporary continental philosophy. Like Schelling before him and Deleuze and Guattari after him, Gaston Bachelard made major philosophical contributions to the advancement of science and the arts. In addition to being a mathematician and epistemologist whose influential work in the philosophy of science is still being absorbed, Bachelard was also one of the most innovative thinkers on poetic creativity and its ethical implications. His approaches to literature and the arts by way of elemental reverie awakened long-buried modes of thinking that have inspired literary critics, depth psychologists, poets, and artists alike. Bachelard’s extraordinary body of work, unduly neglected by the English-language reception of continental philosophy in recent decades, exhibits a capacity to speak to the full complexity and wider reaches of human thinking. The essays in this volume analyze Bachelard as a phenomenological thinker and situate his thought within the Western tradition. Considering his work alongside that of Schelling, Husserl, Bergson, Buber, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Gadamer, Deleuze, and Nancy, this collection highlights some of Bachelard’s most provocative proposals on questions of ontology, hermeneutics, ethics, environmental politics, spirituality, and the possibilities they offer for productive transformations of self and world. Eileen Rizo-Patron is Research Associate at the Center for Philosophy, Interpretation, and Culture at Binghamton University, State University of New York. She is the coeditor (with Richard Kearney) of Traversing the Heart: Journeys of the Inter-religious Imagination and the translator of Bachelard’s Intuition of the Instant. Edward S. Casey is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Stony Brook University, State University of New York. He is the author of many books, including The Fate of Place: A Philosophical History. Jason M. Wirth is Professor of Philosophy at Seattle University. His books include Schelling’s Practice of the Wild: Time, Art, Imagination, also published by SUNY Press. Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 12 Sigla......Page 16 Introduction Bachelard’s Living Philosophical Legacy......Page 18 Overview of an Unusual Philosophical Trajectory......Page 19 Reception of Bachelard in Continental Philosophy......Page 21 Bachelard Entering the Third Millennium......Page 23 Challenges of Translating Bachelard’s Oeuvre......Page 26 Notes......Page 29 Part 1: Adventures in Time......Page 34 Chapter 1 The Difference an Instant Makes: Bachelard’s Brilliant Breakthrough ......Page 36 Notes......Page 44 Chapter 2 Bachelard’s “Non-Bergsonism” ......Page 46 Notes......Page 63 Chapter 3 Vertical Time: Bachelard’s Epiphanic Instant ......Page 66 Notes......Page 76 Chapter 4 Rhythm and Reverie: On the Temporality of Imagination in Bachelard ......Page 80 The Structure of Time......Page 81 Resonance and Reverberation: The Logic of Imagination......Page 85 The Temporality of Material Imagination......Page 89 Notes......Page 96 Part 2: Adventures in Methodology......Page 98 Chapter 5 Adventures of Consciousness: Bachelard on the Scientific Imagination ......Page 100 Notes......Page 106 Chapter 6 Bachelard vis-à-vis Phenomenology ......Page 108 Evolving Perspectives on Phenomenology......Page 109 Phenomenology of Matter......Page 112 Accepted and Unaccepted Phenomenology......Page 114 Phenomenology and Poetics......Page 118 Notes......Page 121 Chapter 7 Bachelard’s Hermeneutics: Between Psychoanalysis and Phenomenology ......Page 124 An Allegorical Figure?......Page 126 Formal versus Material Imagination......Page 128 Matter as “Otherness”......Page 131 Hermeneutics of Culture Complexes......Page 134 Conclusion......Page 138 Notes......Page 139 Material Imagination as a Path to Ontology......Page 144 Poetic Reverie and Writing......Page 148 Poetic Ontology: Its Role in the Augmentation of Being......Page 152 Notes......Page 155 Part 3: Adventures in Language......Page 158 “By”-Words......Page 160 Gaston Bachelard and Henry Corbin......Page 163 Poetry and Incandescence......Page 165 Adjectival Consciousness......Page 166 Notes......Page 168 Chapter 10 Bachelard’s Logosphere and Derrida’s Logocentrism: A Distinction with a Différance ......Page 172 Notes......Page 181 Chapter 11 The Heat of Language: Bachelard on Idea and Image ......Page 184 Ideas and Image......Page 186 Eisemplasy......Page 190 Imagology as the Violence of the Image......Page 194 A Phenomenology of the Soul......Page 199 Notes......Page 208 Chapter 12 Sounding the Living Logos: Bachelard and Gadamer ......Page 214 Gadamer’s Hermeneutic Breakthrough......Page 215 Bachelard’s Soundings of a Poetic Λόγος ......Page 217 Bachelard as “Dissident” Reader......Page 220 Challenges of Translating Bachelard......Page 222 Notes......Page 224 Part 4: Adventures in Alterity......Page 228 Bachelard and Buber......Page 230 From Autonomy to Mediation......Page 232 Mixing the Real and the Ideal......Page 234 From Aesthetic Reciprocity to Ethics......Page 237 Notes......Page 240 Chapter 14 Missing Land: Between Heidegger and Bachelard ......Page 242 Notes......Page 252 Chapter 15 Environmental Politics in Light of Bachelard’s Elemental Poetics ......Page 254 Bachelard’s Epistemology in 1934......Page 256 A Poetics of the Imaginary......Page 260 An Elemental Politics......Page 266 Notes......Page 268 Chapter 16 Bachelard’s Open Solitude ......Page 276 Notes......Page 285 Appendix A Preface to Buber’s I and Thou......Page 288 Appendix B Testimony on Gaston Bachelard......Page 294 Notes......Page 296 Works by Gaston Bachelard: Primary Sources......Page 298 Critical Studies on Bachelard: Secondary Sources......Page 300 Contributors......Page 302 Name Index......Page 308 Subject Index......Page 314 Contents 6 Preface 10 Acknowledgments 12 Sigla 16 Introduction Bachelard’s Living Philosophical Legacy 18 Overview of an Unusual Philosophical Trajectory 19 Reception of Bachelard in Continental Philosophy 21 Bachelard Entering the Third Millennium 23 Challenges of Translating Bachelard’s Oeuvre 26 Notes 29 Part 1: Adventures in Time 34 Chapter 1 The Difference an Instant Makes: Bachelard’s Brilliant Breakthrough 36 Notes 44 Chapter 2 Bachelard’s “Non-Bergsonism” 46 Notes 63 Chapter 3 Vertical Time: Bachelard’s Epiphanic Instant 66 Notes 76 Chapter 4 Rhythm and Reverie: On the Temporality of Imagination in Bachelard 80 The Structure of Time 81 Resonance and Reverberation: The Logic of Imagination 85 The Temporality of Material Imagination 89 Notes 96 Part 2: Adventures in Methodology 98 Chapter 5 Adventures of Consciousness: Bachelard on the Scientific Imagination 100 Notes 106 Chapter 6 Bachelard vis-à-vis Phenomenology 108 Evolving Perspectives on Phenomenology 109 Phenomenology of Matter 112 Accepted and Unaccepted Phenomenology 114 Phenomenology and Poetics 118 Conclusion 121 Notes 121 Chapter 7 Bachelard’s Hermeneutics: Between Psychoanalysis and Phenomenology 124 An Allegorical Figure? 126 Formal versus Material Imagination 128 Matter as “Otherness” 131 Hermeneutics of Culture Complexes 134 Conclusion 138 Notes 139 Chapter 8 Bachelard’s Poetic Ontology 144 Material Imagination as a Path to Ontology 144 Poetic Reverie and Writing 148 Poetic Ontology: Its Role in the Augmentation of Being 152 Notes 155 Part 3: Adventures in Language 158 Chapter 9 Gaston Bachelard and Henry Corbin: On Adjectival Consciousness 160 “By”-Words 160 Gaston Bachelard and Henry Corbin 163 Poetry and Incandescence 165 Adjectival Consciousness 166 Notes 168 Chapter 10 Bachelard’s Logosphere and Derrida’s Logocentrism: A Distinction with a Différance 172 Notes 181 Chapter 11 The Heat of Language: Bachelard on Idea and Image 184 Ideas and Image 186 Eisemplasy 190 Imagology as the Violence of the Image 194 A Phenomenology of the Soul 199 Notes 208 Chapter 12 Sounding the Living Logos: Bachelard and Gadamer 214 Gadamer’s Hermeneutic Breakthrough 215 Bachelard’s Soundings of a Poetic Λόγος 217 Bachelard as “Dissident” Reader 220 Challenges of Translating Bachelard 222 Notes 224 Part 4: Adventures in Alterity 228 Chapter 13 Reverie and Reverence: Bachelard’s Encounter with Buber 230 Bachelard and Buber 230 From Autonomy to Mediation 232 Mixing the Real and the Ideal 234 From Aesthetic Reciprocity to Ethics 237 Reverie and Reverence 240 Notes 240 Chapter 14 Missing Land: Between Heidegger and Bachelard 242 Notes 252 Chapter 15 Environmental Politics in Light of Bachelard’s Elemental Poetics 254 Bachelard’s Epistemology in 1934 256 A Poetics of the Imaginary 260 An Elemental Politics 266 Notes 268 Chapter 16 Bachelard’s Open Solitude 276 Notes 285 Appendix A Preface to Buber’s I and Thou 288 Appendix B Testimony on Gaston Bachelard 294 Notes 296 Bibliography 298 Works by Gaston Bachelard: Primary Sources 298 Critical Studies on Bachelard: Secondary Sources 300 Contributors 302 Name Index 308 Subject Index 314 www.ebook3000.com