Bachelard Studies/ Études Bachelardiennes/ Studi Bachelardiani

04/03/2022

https://www.anpof.org/agenda/lancamentos-e-chamadas-de-revistas/bachelard-o-nao-psicanalista

Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia. Colunas, entrevistas, notícias, fórum, agenda e publicações relacionadas à pós-graduação e investigação filosófica.

02/03/2022

Chères Amies,
Chers Amis,
Nous sommes heurex de partager avec vous la publication du Numèro 2/2021
«Gaston Bachelard, the “non-psychoanalyst”» - «Bachelard, le “non psychanalyste”» - «Bachelard, il “non psicanalista”»
Sous la direction de: Ilona BLOCIAN et Marta PLES-BEBEN

Les auteurs des textes du nouveau volume de la r***e Bachelard Studies – Études Bachelardiennes – Studi Bachelardiani explorent de nombreux aspects et contextes liés aux relations entre la pensée de Gaston Bachelard et la psychanalyse, tant pour la rationalité que pour la poétique. Parmi les problèmes soulevés, on retrouve le caractère problématique et la fécondité des références de Bachelard à la psychanalyse (de Sigmund Freud à la psychologie analytique de Carl Gustav Jung) ; le thème de la pédagogie bachelardienne, qui entrecroise savoirs des sciences humaines et expériences personnelles d’enseignant, inconscient et rupture rationnelle ; la question de l’enfance dans La poétique de la rêverie et finalement la place du bachelardisme par rapport aux écoles analytiques contemporaines.
Les invitations au volume ont été acceptées par Marcel Renée Becerra Batán, Joël Clerget, Nicole Fabre, Nevio Del Longo, Kamila Morawska, Zoé Pfister, Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Christian Thiboutot et Anton Vydra. Leurs analyses perspicaces ont été complétées par des textes d’archives qui renforcent les questions soulevées, entre autres, par le contexte lié à la méthode du rêve éveillé dirigé de Robert Desoille, par la réflexion sur l’imaginaire de Juliette Favez-Boutonnier, ou par la psychanalyse bachelardienne du feu dans l’interprétation de Jean-Jacques Wunenburger qui y montre les tensions visibles dans l’attitude de Bachelard envers Freud.
Les éditeurs du volume proposent enfin un état des lieux des recherches menées en Pologne, où le thème de la psychanalyse – en général et en tant qu’inspiration de Bachelard – est retrouvé et de plus en plus présent après des années de silence. Nous espérons que le volume trouvera des lectrices et des lecteurs qui voudront s’attarder avec nous sur la (non)psychanalyse de Gaston Bachelard.
Ilona Blocian & Marta Ples-Beben

«Bachelard, le “non psychanalyste”»:
https://www.mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/bachelardstudies/issue/view/112

Dear Friends,
We are pleased to share with you the publication of the Issue 2/2021
«Gaston Bachelard, the "non-psychoanalyst”» - «Bachelard, the "non-psychoanalyst”» - «Bachelard, il "non psicanalista”»
Edited by: Ilona BLOCIAN and Marta PLES-BEBEN

The authors of the texts in the new volume of the journal Bachelard Studies - Études Bachelardiennes - Studi Bachelardiani explore many aspects and contexts related to the relationship between Gaston Bachelard's thought and psychoanalysis, both for rationality and poetics. Among the issues raised are the problematic nature and fruitfulness of Bachelard's references to psychoanalysis (from Sigmund Freud to Carl Gustav Jung's analytical psychology); the theme of Bachelardian pedagogy, which intertwines knowledge from the humanities and personal experiences as a teacher, the unconscious, and the rational break; the question of childhood in The Poetics of Daydreaming; and finally, the place of Bachelardianism in relation to contemporary analytic schools.
Invitations to the volume were accepted by Marcel Renée Becerra Batán, Joël Clerget, Nicole Fabre, Nevio Del Longo, Kamila Morawska, Zoé Pfister, Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Christian Thiboutot and Anton Vydra. Their insightful analyses have been complemented by archival texts that reinforce the questions raised, among others, by the context of Robert Desoille's directed waking dream method, by Juliette Favez-Boutonnier's reflection on the imaginary, or by Jean-Jacques Wunenburger's Bachelardian psychoanalysis of fire in interpretation, in which he shows the tensions visible in Bachelard's attitude towards Freud.
Finally, the editors of the volume propose a survey of the research carried out in Poland, where the theme of psychoanalysis - in general and as an inspiration for Bachelard - is being rediscovered and increasingly present after years of silence. We hope that the volume will find readers who will want to dwell with us on Gaston Bachelard's (non)psychoanalysis.
Ilona Blocian & Marta Ples-Beben

«Gaston Bachelard, the "non-psychoanalyst”»
https://www.mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/bachelardstudies/issue/view/112

Care Amiche,
Cari Amici,
Siamo lieti di annunciare la pubblicazione del numero 2/2021
«Gaston Bachelard, the "non-psychoanalyst”» - «Bachelard, the "non-psychoanalyst”» - «Bachelard, il "non psicanalista”»
Curato da: Ilona BLOCIAN e Marta PLES-BEBEN

Gli autori dei testi di questo numero di Bachelard Studies - Études Bachelardiennes - Studi Bachelardiani esplorano molti aspetti e contesti relativi al rapporto tra il pensiero di Gaston Bachelard e la psicoanalisi, sia nell’ambito epistemologico, sia in quello poetico. Tra le questioni sollevate vi sono la problematicità e la fecondità dei riferimenti di Bachelard alla psicoanalisi (da Sigmund Freud alla psicologia analitica di Carl Gustav Jung); il tema della pedagogia bachelardiana, che intreccia il sapere delle scienze umane e le esperienze personali di insegnante, l'inconscio e la rottura razionale; la questione dell'infanzia in La poetica del sogno ad occhi aperti; e infine il posto del bachelardianesimo in relazione alle scuole analitiche contemporanee. Gli inviti al volume sono stati accettati da Marcel Renée Becerra Batán, Joël Clerget, Nicole Fabre, Nevio Del Longo, Kamila Morawska, Zoé Pfister, Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Christian Thiboutot e Anton Vydra. Le loro analisi perspicaci sono state completate da testi d'archivio che rafforzano le questioni sollevate, tra l'altro, dal contesto del metodo del sogno di veglia diretto di Robert Desoille, dalla riflessione sull'immaginario di Juliette Favez-Boutonnier, o dalla psicoanalisi bachelardiana del fuoco nell'interpretazione di Jean-Jacques Wunenburger, in cui mostra le tensioni visibili nell'atteggiamento di Bachelard verso Freud.
Infine, le curatrici del volume propongono una rassegna delle ricerche condotte in Polonia, dove il tema della psicoanalisi - in generale e come ispirazione per Bachelard - viene riscoperto e sempre più presente dopo anni di silenzio. Speriamo che il volume trovi lettori che vogliano soffermarsi con noi sulla (non)psicoanalisi di Gaston Bachelard.
Ilona Blocian & Marta Ples-Beben

«Bachelard, il "non psicanalista”»
https://www.mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/bachelardstudies/issue/view/112

Nous vous rappelons les prochaines sorties:
1/2022 Sous la direction de Charles ALUNNI Gaston Bachelard et la philosophie des sciences aujourd'hui.
2/2022 Sous la direction de Alberto Filipe ARAUJO et Rogério DE ALMEIDA Bachelard Pédagogue, éduquer à la nouveauté.
1/2023 Sous la direction de Marie-Pierre LASSUS Gaston Bachelard et la musique. L’esthétique de l’énergie.

Vi ricordiamo le prossime pubblicazioni:
1/2022 A cura di Charles ALUNNI Gaston Bachelard e l’odierna filosofia delle scienze.
2/2022 A cura di Alberto Filipe ARAUJO et Rogério DE ALMEIDA Bachelard Pedagogo: educare alla novità.
1/2023 A cura di Marie-Pierre LASSUS Gli ambienti sonori di Gaston Bachelard. Per un'estetica dell'energia.

We remind you the next issues:
1/2022 Edited by Charles ALUNNI Gaston Bachelard and today's philosophy of science.
2/2022 Edited by Alberto Filipe ARAUJO et Rogério DE ALMEIDA Bachelard as Pedagogue: Educating for Novelty.
1/2023 Edited by Marie-Pierre LASSUS Gaston Bachelard's Sound Environments. Towards an Aesthetics of Energy.

Les Directeurs, Editors, Direttori:
Jean-Jacques WUNENBURGER
Renato BOCCALI
Rédactrice en Chef, Editor in Chief, Capo Redattore:
Aurosa ALISON

07/04/2021

Call for Papers - 01/2022 - Deadline: 1st of September 2021

How Gaston Bachelard's "conceptual personality" is inscribed in history and time? The journal encourages both approaches that focus on Bachelard's work and perspectives oriented towards contemporary scientific problems addressed from a Bachelardian perspective.
Issue will be directed by Charles Alunni.
https://www.mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/bachelardstudies/call-for-papers

Comme le « personnage conceptuel » Gaston Bachelard s’inscrit effectivement dans l’histoire et dans le temps ? La r***e encourage à la fois les approches qui se concentrent sur l'œuvre du philosophe et les perspectives orientées vers les problèmes scientifiques contemporains abordés dans une perspective de Bachelard.
Le numéro de la r***e sera édité par Charles Alunni.
https://www.mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/bachelardstudies/call-for-papers

Come “la personalità concettuale” di Gaston Bachelard s’iscrive nella storia e nel tempo? La rivista incoraggia sia approcci che si focalizzano sull’opera di Bachelard sia approcci orientati verso problemi scientifici contemporanei affrontati secondo un’ottica bachelardiana.
Fascicolo a cura di Charles Alunni.
https://www.mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/bachelardstudies/call-for-papers

30/12/2020

The First Issue of Bachelard Studies "Bachelard: An Ecological Thinker?" directed By Jean-Philippe Pierron is published! https://www.mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/bachelardstudies/issue/view/52

Le premier numèro de Études Bachelardiennes «Bachelard: penseur de l'écologie?» Sous la Direction de Jean-Philippe Pierron est publié!
https://www.mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/bachelardstudies/issue/view/52

Il primo numero di Studi Bachelardiani "Bachelard: pensatore dell'ecologia?" a cura di Jean-Philippe Pierron è pubblicato!
https://www.mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/bachelardstudies/issue/view/52

22/12/2020

Call for Papers - 02/2021 - Deadline: 30th of April 2021

What is Bachelard’s relationship to psychoanalysis and, more generally, to theories dealing with the psyche? For the upcoming issue of Bachelard Studies, we would like to invite reflection on:
- The Psychoanalysis of Scientific Knowledge
- The Psychoanalysis of Objective Knowledge in Pedagogy
- Psychoanalysis and Reverie
- Influences and Sources of Inspiration
- Interpretations.
Issue will be directed by Ilona Blocian and Marta Ples-Bęben.
https://www.mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/bachelardstudies/call-for-papers

Quel est le rapport de Bachelard à la psychanalyse et plus en général aux théories ayant à faire à la psyché ? Nous voulons inviter à la réflexion sur:
- La psychanalyse de la connaissance scientifique
- La psychanalyse de la connaissance objective dans le processus de la formation
- La psychanalyse et la rêverie
- Les inspirations
- Les interprétations.
Le numéro de la r***e sera édité par Ilona Blocian et Marta Ples-Bęben
https://www.mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/bachelardstudies/call-for-papers

Qual è il rapporto che Bachelard stabilisce con la psicanalisi e più in generale con le teorie della psiche? Vogliamo invitare alla riflessione sulla:
- La psicanalisi e la conoscenza scientifica
- La psicanalisi della conoscenza oggettiva nel processo della formazione
- La psicanalisi e la rêverie
- Le ispirazioni
- Le interpretazioni.
Fascicolo a cura di Ilona Blocian e Marta Ples-Bęben.
https://www.mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/bachelardstudies/call-for-papers

26/11/2020

Call 4 Paper Remind
Bachelard Studies 1/2021
Deadline: 15.12.2020

Call for Papers

Bachelard Studies
Etudes Bachelardiennes
Studi Bachelardiani

01/2021

Reasons and Passions of Matter: Gaston Bachelard’s Materialism
Edited by Francesca BONICALZI ([email protected])

1. Common sense attributes the label of "matter" to everything with substance or consistency and which can be perceived by our senses, particularly by touch and sight. The concept of matter is then combined with the concept of the body. Its meaning is constructed in the context of opposition between matter and spirit. This opposition lies at the origin of the many dualisms which constitute the horizon in which we organize our language (body/soul; passive/active; sensitive/intelligible; negative/positive; materialism/idealism...).



In its theoretical rigor, philosophy assumed this conception and gave the name of "matter" to contingency—a contingency which constitutes a gray area, condition, and limit of knowledge. The matter has always posed a problem for philosophy: it is connected with the senses and shares its boundaries with them; it is opposed to form, and it is a space of passivity and becoming; it is a cause of the instability of knowledge, constituting a threat to the irrefutability of the episteme. Matter, as a stumbling block for philosophy, renders mathematics inoperative in its relation to the world of nature, hence leaving unresolved the numerous problems of physics, which are necessarily linked to nature.



Matter consequently comes to be regarded as an obstacle to the construction of knowledge. But in the modern era, this problem (which had previously been highlighted by Galileo) finds some resolution through Descartes’s re-definition of matter as res extensa—a conception which overcomes the effects of matter's resistance to cognition and radically reorganizes scientific knowledge. Such knowledge now comes to be structured concerning a new notion of matter considered a mathematical-geometric object.



Thus brought back to the objectivity of geometric extension via Descartes’ rationalist mechanism, or to the abstract ideal of subjective perception via Berkeley’s “Esse est percipi,” matter again comes to be regarded as a perceptible given in the era of positivism. Yet not long thereafter, in the contemporary era of the new scientific spirit, the matter is to become an element that drastically departs from—and indeed subverts—the previous interpretive paradigms because it can no longer be traced back to substance nor to extension, but instead loses all substantial and geometric determination, revealing itself as a complex energetic dynamism that requires a restructuring of rationality.



In several of his works (beginning with Atomistic Intuitions, followed by The Philosophy of No), Gaston Bachelard critically reviews this history of matter by highlighting transformations and discontinuities while analyzing its different scientific and philosophical representations over time. How is Bachelard’s original historical epistemology built? What are its key categories and paradigmatic shifts? How is matter a factor in the evolution of epistemological investigation and at the same time an obstacle to its realization? Bachelard’s historical epistemology not only describes matter as a pre-scientific obstacle but also clarifies its role in mathematical rationality with particular attention to geometry and highlights its function in chemistry and physics. What elements of comparison emerge through this process? What type of dialectic is carried out between the different methodologies and approaches to matter that he outlines (idealism, realism, empiricism, etc.)? What is the heritage of Bachelardian thought regarding this question? What is its reception? What remains of his critical/historical epistemology in today’s contemporary debates?



2. In Gaston Bachelard's texts, the matter is granted a central and often provocative place, which tends to go beyond the presuppositions of defined cultural paradigms. Bachelard’s earliest works are particularly focused on chemistry and physics, and his investigation presents itself as an ongoing struggle with our views of the matter. On the other hand, from aesthetic production, he will attempt to evoke the oneiric and poetic imagination through the natural elements of reverie.



Can we speak of matter as such, in the singular? Can we claim that there is only one unifying category of matter, perceptible via common sense, which we can deal with scientifically and poetically? Or are there two different categories altogether: one scientific and the other dream-poetic? How can we analyze Bachelard’s different conceptions concerning common sense, philosophy, science (ancient and modern), poetry, and the arts?



Again we ask: Is there a single type of matter, or are there several types of matter? If several, then is it possible to list and catalog them? Should we not think that every material element offers itself in multiple ways, both to the imagination and scientific rationality? Should we not, therefore, deepen our investigations into the different “regional” materialisms and different material elements?



3. Re-evoking the etymology of matter (Lat. mater), Gaston Bachelard abandons the concept of its passivity and suggests the presence of a "generative" dimension closer to the Platonic chora than to the Aristotelian hyle. For Bachelard (ever-more explicitly in his later writings), the matter is not an obstacle but a source of "nourishment"—poetic nourishment in the dreamy dimension of an uncertain relationship with the subject, and rational nourishment by the separation of the epistemic subject which generates complexity in its inter-materialist action and its ongoing dialectical rectifications. Through these fecund explorations of matter, Bachelard brings novelty by opening up unprecedented paths for both epistemological reflection and poetic reflection, thus becoming a significant interlocutor for his contemporaries.



What type of "materiology" (i.e., "study of matter") is being proposed here? In what sense may it be referred to as "materialism"? How are we to differentiate Bachelard’s varying terminology on this topic (matter, elements, substance, object, thing, etc.)? The matter is also associated with forms, movements, colors. What is the relationship that connects them? Is there a hierarchy between them? Furthermore, how do we articulate the relationship between matter and space, between matter and time, both from an epistemological and an aesthetic perspective? How are we to highlight the novelty of such a "materiology" in the context of European culture, which lost the certainties of the nineteenth-century conception of knowledge, yet is still largely dominated by the models of positivism and neo-idealism? How can we speak of the matter in scientific terms without the certainties offered by the Cartesian res Extensa? How do the material elements create a poetics and go beyond the status of simple narrative content? How does Bachelard’s debate with his contemporaries contribute to modifications of the French and European cultural climate in the fields of epistemology and imagination?



4. Bachelard develops complex and original paths. Besides developing new definitions of matter and materialism, he is interested in relations with the subject, modalities of experience, and structures of reason, which produce matter as a poetic or epistemic issue. How can science be both objective and material? How is this possible after the epistemological rupture, defined by Einstein's theory of relativity and microphysics? Where can the matter be found, and where is it produced? What are matter’s consequences on the subject--or in what sense can we speak of a materialistic consciousness at work, constituting a deeper dimension of the human? On the other hand, from a poetic perspective, how does poetics feed on material elements while dematerializing them? If matter, the elements, and the world do not immediately offer themselves to the transfigurative functions of the imagination but resist them, then how does this continuous reorganization that undermines imaginative subjectivity take place?



5. Matter is also the source of active oneirism. Is it possible to conduct psychoanalysis of the material elements, as Bachelard first suggests in The Formation of the Scientific Mind and then in The Psychoanalysis of Fire? What are the representations related to "material" practices (poïesis, praxis)? The material that is shaped is valorized differently than the material which is contemplated. Is the same cogito involved in these two processes: shaping vs. contemplating matter? What is the function of the body with the matter? What is the role of "gesture" and "hand" in technique and art? The craftsman, the worker, the artist, and the scientist—each "manipulates" matter in different ways. They each energize it according to vectorial lines of force, which show that it is a source of "provocation." But is it possible to define in what sense we can speak of matter’s provocation and how it acts upon the subject? Does matter’s dynamism constitute a challenge to the Promethean aspect of humanity, as it counters or restricts the human desire to manage and control the world?



6. The insistence on the matter (material phenomena, material qualities, material clarity)—whether it be as a parameter for constructing an epistemology of rational materialism or as the poetic solicitation of the four elements experienced in a nocturnal or dreamlike fashion—requires the deployment of a "phenomenological approach." How does phenomenology work both in the direction of rational materialism and poetic reverie? What are the characteristics of a "phenomenology of imagination"? How does the scientific approach intersect with (or differ from) the phenomenological approach? How does the phenomenological approach and method operate within the epistemology of Bachelard’s subject? Does Bachelardian topology, when faced with rational materialism, manage to overcome oppositional logic, or does it ultimately intensify this opposition?



Francesca Bonicalzi



Submissions rules for English texts:

Articles will be submitted: https://www.mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/bachelardstudies/about/submissions

Articles will be submitted for double-blind peer review.

The Author may propose an article for the sections La Lettre or L’esprit of a maximum of 7,000 words in English, with an Abstract (150 words) in French and Italian, followed by five keywords in English attached.

The Author may propose a review of a maximum of 1,400 words in English.

The articles, which should be anonymous, should be uploaded and submitted through directly the online submission system by December 15th, 2020, in .doc, with a further document containing the author’s information (Bio and affiliation)

07/07/2020

* EXTENDED DEADLINE *

For 1/2021
Reasons and Passions of Matter: Gaston Bachelard’s Materialism

Reasons and Passions of Matter: Gaston Bachelard’s Materialism
Edited by Francesca BONICALZI ([email protected])

1. Common sense attributes the label of "matter" to everything that has substance or consistency, and which can be perceived by our senses, particularly by touch and sight. The concept of matter is then combined with the concept of the body, and its meaning is constructed in the context of an opposition between matter and spirit. This opposition lies at the origin of the many dualisms which constitute the horizon in which we organize our language (body/soul; passive/active; sensitive/intelligible; negative/positive; materialism/idealism...).



In its theoretical rigor, philosophy assumed this conception and gave the name of "matter" to contingency—a contingency which constitutes a gray area, condition, and limit of knowledge. Matter has always posed a problem for philosophy: it is connected with the senses and shares its boundaries with them; it is opposed to form and it is a space of passivity and becoming; it is a cause of the instability of knowledge, constituting a threat to the irrefutability of the episteme. Matter, as a stumbling block for philosophy, renders mathematics inoperative in its relation to the world of nature, hence leaving unresolved the numerous problems of physics, which are necessarily linked to nature.



Matter consequently comes to be regarded as an obstacle to the construction of knowledge. But in the modern era this problem (which had previously been highlighted by Galileo) finds some resolution through Descartes’s re-definition of matter as res extensa—a conception which overcomes the effects of matter's resistance to cognition and radically reorganizes scientific knowledge. Such knowledge now comes to be structured in relation to a new notion of matter considered as a mathematical-geometric object.



Thus brought back to the objectivity of geometric extension via Descartes’ rationalist mechanism, or to the abstract ideal of subjective perception via Berkeley’s “esse est percipi”, matter again comes to be regarded as a perceptible given in the era of positivism. Yet not long thereafter, in the contemporary era of the new scientific spirit, matter is to become an element that drastically departs from—and indeed subverts—the previous interpretive paradigms by virtue of the fact that it can no longer be traced back to substance nor to extension, but instead loses all substantial and geometric determination, revealing itself as a complex energetic dynamism that requires a restructuring of rationality.



In several of his works (beginning with Atomistic Intuitions, followed by The Philosophy of No), Gaston Bachelard critically reviews this history of matter by highlighting transformations and discontinuities, while analyzing its different scientific and philosophical representations over time. How is Bachelard’s original historical epistemology built? What are its key categories and paradigmatic shifts? How is matter a factor in the evolution of epistemological investigation and at the same time an obstacle to its realization? Bachelard’s historical epistemology not only describes matter as a pre-scientific obstacle, but also clarifies its role in mathematical rationality with particular attention to geometry, and highlights its function in chemistry and physics. What elements of comparison emerge through this process? What type of dialectic is carried out between the different methodologies and approaches to matter that he outlines (idealism, realism, empiricism, etc.)? What is the heritage of Bachelardian thought regarding this question? What is its reception? What remains of his critical/historical epistemology in today’s contemporary debates?



2. In Gaston Bachelard's texts, matter is granted a central and often provocative place, which tends to go beyond the presuppositions of defined cultural paradigms. Bachelard’s earliest works are particularly focused on chemistry and physics, and his investigation presents itself as an ongoing struggle with our views of matter. On the other hand, from the perspective of aesthetic production, he will attempt to evoke the oneiric and poetic imagination through the natural elements of reverie.



Can we speak of matter as such, in the singular? Can we claim that there is only one unifying category of matter, perceptible via common sense, which we can deal with both scientifically and poetically? Or are there two different categories altogether: one scientific and the other dream-poetic? How can we analyze Bachelard’s different conceptions of matter concerning common sense, philosophy, science (ancient and modern), poetry, and the arts?



Again we ask: Is there a single type of matter, or are there several types of matter? If several, then is it possible to list and catalog them? Should we not think that every material element offers itself in multiple ways both to the imagination and to scientific rationality? Should we not therefore deepen our investigations into the different “regional” materialisms and different material elements?



3. Re-evoking the etymology of matter (Lat. mater), Gaston Bachelard abandons the concept of its passivity and suggests the presence of a "generative" dimension closer to the Platonic chora than to the Aristotelian hyle. For Bachelard (ever-more explicitly in his later writings) matter is not an obstacle but a source of "nourishment"—poetic nourishment in the dreamy dimension of an uncertain relationship with the subject, and rational nourishment by the separation of the epistemic subject which generates complexity in its inter-materialist action and its ongoing dialectical rectifications. Through these fecund explorations of matter, Bachelard brings novelty by opening up unprecedented paths for both epistemological reflection and poetic reflection, thus becoming a significant interlocutor for his contemporaries.



What type of "materiology" (i.e. "study of matter") is being proposed here? In what sense may it be referred to as "materialism"? How are we to differentiate Bachelard’s varying terminology on this topic (matter, elements, substance, object, thing, etc.)? Matter is also associated with forms, movements, colors. What is the relationship that connects them? Is there a hierarchy between them? Furthermore, how do we articulate the relationship between matter and space, between matter and time, both from an epistemological and an aesthetic perspective? How are we to highlight the novelty of such a "materiology" in the context of European culture, which lost the certainties of the nineteenth-century conception of knowledge, yet is still largely dominated by the models of positivism and neo-idealism? How can we speak of matter in scientific terms without the certainties offered by the Cartesian res extensa? How do the material elements create a poetics and go beyond the status of simple narrative content? How does Bachelard’s debate with his contemporaries contribute to modifications of the French and European cultural climate in the fields of epistemology and imagination?



4. Bachelard develops complex and original paths. Besides developing new definitions of matter and materialism, he is interested in relations with the subject, modalities of experience, and structures of reason which produce matter as a poetic or epistemic issue. How can science be both objective and material? How is this possible after the epistemological rupture, defined by Einstein's theory of relativity and microphysics? Where can matter be found, and where is it produced? What are matter’s consequences on the subject--or in what sense can we speak of a materialistic consciousness at work, constituting a deeper dimension of the human? On the other hand, from a poetic point of view, how does poetics feed on material elements while dematerializing them? If matter, the elements, and the world do not immediately offer themselves to the transfigurative functions of the imagination but resist them, then how does this continuous reorganization that undermines imaginative subjectivity take place?



5. Matter is also the source of active oneirism. Is it possible to conduct a psychoanalysis of the material elements, as Bachelard first suggests in The Formation of the Scientific Mind and then in The Psychoanalysis of Fire? What are the representations related to "material" practices (poïesis, praxis)? The material that is shaped is valorized differently than the material which is contemplated. Is the same cogito involved in these two processes: shaping vs. contemplating matter? What is the function of the body in relation to matter? What is the role of "gesture" and "hand" in technique and art? The craftsman, the worker, the artist, as well as the scientist—each "manipulates" matter in different ways. They each energize it according to vectorial lines of force which show that it is a source of "provocation". But is it possible to define in what sense we can speak of matter’s provocation, and how it acts upon the subject? Does matter’s dynamism constitute a challenge to the Promethean aspect of humanity, as it counters or restricts the human desire to manage and control the world?



6. The insistence on matter (material phenomena, material qualities, material clarity)—whether it be as a parameter for constructing an epistemology of rational materialism, or as the poetic solicitation of the four elements experienced in a nocturnal or dreamlike fashion—requires the deployment of a "phenomenological approach". How does phenomenology work both in the direction of rational materialism and poetic reverie? What are the characteristics of a "phenomenology of imagination"? How does the scientific approach intersect with (or differ from) the phenomenological approach? How does the phenomenological approach and method operate within the epistemology of Bachelard’s subject? Does Bachelardian topology, when faced with rational materialism, manage to overcome oppositional logic, or does it ultimately intensify this opposition?



Francesca Bonicalzi



Submissions rules for english texts:

Articles will be submitted:
https://www.mimesisjournals.com/ojs/index.php/bachelardstudies/about/submissions

Articles will be submitted to double blind peer review.

The Author may propose an article for the sections La lettre or L’esprit of a maximum of 7,000 words in english, with an Abstract (150 words) in french and in italian, followed by five key words in english attached.

The Author may propose a review of a maximum of 1,400 words in english.

The articles, which should be anonymous, should be uploaded and submitted directly trough the on line submission system by 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟓, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎, in .doc, with a further document containing the author’s information (Bio and affiliation)

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission’s compliance with the editorial norms:http://mimesisinternational.com/editorial-norms.pdf