The Psychoanalysis of Fire

Gaston Bachelard

Beacon Press, 1964 - Psychology - 115 pages

What people are saying

Review: The Psychoanalysis of Fire

User Review  - Alnoory. - Goodreads

"We have only to speak of an object to think that we are being objective. But because we chose it in the first place, the object reveals more about us than we do about it."

Review: The Psychoanalysis of Fire

User Review  - aboxofcereal - Goodreads

Bachelard changed my outlook on everything related to art. Highly recommended.

Contents

• Fire and Respect The Prometheus Complex: 7
• Fire and Reverie The Empedocles Complex: 13
• Psychoanalysis and Prehistory The Novalis Complex: 21
• Sexualized Fire: 43
• The Chemistry of Fire History of a False Problem: 59
• Alcohol The Water that Flames Punch The Hoffmann Complex Spontaneous Combustions: 83
• Idealized Fire Fire and Purity: 99
• Conclusion: 109
• Footnotes: 113

About the author

Born in Bar-sur-Aube, France, in 1884, Gaston Bachelard received his doctorate in 1927. He became professor of philosophy at the University of Dijon in 1930, and held the chair in the history and philosophy of science at the University of Paris from 1940 to 1954. In epistemology and the philosophy of science, Bachelard espoused a dialectical rationalism, or dialogue between reason and experience. He rejected the Cartesian conception of scientific truths as immutable; he insisted on experiment as well as mathematics in the development of science. Bachelard described the cooperation between the two as a philosophy of saying no, of being ever ready to revise or abandon the established framework of scientific theory to express the new discoveries. In addition to his contributions to the epistemological foundations of science, Bachelard explored the role of reverie and emotion in the expressions of both science and more imaginative thinking. His psychological explanations of the four elements-earth, air, fire, water-illustrate this almost poetic aspect of his philosophy.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Psychoanalysis of Fire; Volume 277 of Beacon paperback.277; Volume 277 of Beacon paperback: Philosophy, literature
• Author: Gaston Bachelard
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Beacon Press, 1964
• ISBN: 0807064610, 9780807064610
• Length: 115 pages
• Subjects: Philosophy / General; Psychology / General; Psychology / Movements / Psychoanalysis