Roger, Lucie

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The Pedagogical PhilosoPhy of BachelardLucie RogerIntroductionGaston Bachelard (1884-1962), a scientist and philosopher, initially taught high school physics and chemistry before becoming professor of  philosophy at the University of  Dijon. During this period, he studied the philosophy of  science and the epistemology of  scientific knowledge. In 1940, he took up the Chair in the History and Philosophy of  the Sciences at the Sorbonne, a position he would hold up until 1955. He had a disconcerting pedagogy. He would begin with “dense and tightly woven epistemological reflection on mathematical physics and quantum mechanics processes in his morning course before moving on to discuss dizzying variations on the imagination of  air.”1 Bachelard also presented his unique and surprising pedagogy in his writings, which mirrored his teaching. Although the pedagogical contributions of  his works are relatively little known, Bachelard primarily described himself  as a teacher of  philosophy; he believed that education was the “fundamental theme of  his thought”. 23 His pedagogy is a reflecting one. It’s a pedagogy of  thinking, a pedagogy looking after itself; “pedagogical philosophy.”4 The challenge of  this pedagogical philosophy is the transforming of  the learner’s mind through the Bachelardian model of  the “New Scientific Spirit,”, a thinking model inviting a continuing questing of  knowledge in the learning process. 5The pedagogical philosophy of  BachelardBefore presenting the Bachelardian philosophy of  education through five principles, we will rely on the definition given by Nicholas Burbulus of  challenges of  the philosophy of  education: to reflect critically on the institutional contexts and customs that implicitly define and direct much of  what we do — to ask how they affect the problems we choose, the styles of  reasoning we adopt, our vocabulary, and our discursive practices. Philosophy is something 1 Jean, George. Bachelard, l’enfance et la pédagogie. (Paris: Éditions de scrabée, 1983), 112 Bachelard, Gaston. Le rationnalisme appliqué. (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1949), 12.3 Fabre, Michel. Gaston Bachelard: La formation de l’homme moderne. (Paris: Hachette, 2001), 7.4 Jean. Bachelard, l’enfance et la pédagogie.5 Bachelard, Gaston. Le nouvel esprit scientifique. Paris: Presses universitaire de France), 1934.AntistAsis 35that we do, and we are always doing it in a particular way that is not a given; it might be otherwise. 6 The Bachelardian thought that forms the basis of  his pedagogical philosophy tries to respond to these challenges. The writings of  Gaston Bachelard are above all focused on the formation of  man;7 his research on knowledge and learning looks at the formation of  the mind and thought. This viewpoint is complementary to psychological approaches that emphasize the construction of  internal structures in the brain during the learning process. Bachelardian philosophy has five principles:1. Learners in educational contexts In his writings, Bachelard considers the human learner to undergo a process of  self-transformation.8 One must consider all learning, regardless of  its nature, as being able to contribute to transforming the mind and to influencing the learner’s self-image. For Bachelard, a technical learning creates disenchantment insofar as it constructs an objective representation of  the world that is devoid of  humanity. Poetry is a way to inhabit the world.9 There is thus a continuum, a vertical column between science and poetry. This verticalness between science and poetry is key to understanding the definition of  culture that Bachelard suggests in his writings. 2. The cultural dimension can be understood from a philosophical perspectiveThe Bachelardian idea of  culture is that the cultivation of  one’s mind is like the cultivation of  one’s garden; it requires care and development. The scientific culture discussed in the work of  Bachelard is aimed at the fulfilment of  the mind and at its ability to reflect. It’s this ability that the Bachelardian pedagogical philosophy tries to develop in the model of  the “New Scientific Spirit”. A genuine, cultivated teacher is therefore not someone who knows everything and holds a great sum of  knowledge, but rather a teacher who thinks, who reflects, who guides others in their reflection, and who is able to sustain a permanent state of  learning. A Bachelardian teacher, then. maintains the verticalness between science and poetry. According to Bachelard, this is achieved through three relationships: the relationship to the self, the relationship to others, and the relationship to the world. We focus on the first relationship here.6 Burbules, Nicholas C. and Kathleen Knight Abowitz A Situated Philosophy of  Education. Philosophy of  Education, 273.7 Fabre. Gaston Bachelard : La formation de l’homme moderne.8 Gil, Didier. Bachelard et la culture scientifique. (Paris: PUF, 1993). 9 Bachelard, Gaston. La flamme d’une chandelle. (Paris: PUF, 1961).36 AntistAsis3. Cultural relationships are dialectical in natureHaving a relationship to the self  means entering into a relationship with one’s own knowledge. Like the gardener, the learner has to cultivate his own garden, his own mind. This is the first required relationship to develop the “New Scientific Spirit”. Accordingly, black-and-white ideas and ready-made answers must be rejected. This relationship to knowledge plays out through a questioning of  all the dimensions of  professional, theoretical, practical and empirical knowledge. It also requires questioning the historicity of  the construction of  this knowledge and its place in the context of  cultural practices. A relationship to the self  entails being aware of  the self, being aware one is observing one’s own thought, and being aware one is examining one’s own evolution and one’s own transformation. 4. Critical thinking must be developedThe New Scientific Spirit put forward by Bachelard appears to be a carefully developed, easily implemented, and critically-grounded model of  critical thinking. Bachelard’s philosophical definition of  a critical mind is “the methodological attitude of  a subject who does not accept any assertion without testing out its value; who holds a proposition to be true only if  it has been established based on rational and rigorous procedures.” 10  Bachelard offers up a framework of  rational and rigorous procedures to assess the value of  knowledge: Any new knowledge to be acquired must evolve through different levels of  philosophy. There are six different levels permitting deepening of  knowledge, the details of  which are beyond the scope of  this paper. However, transcending different levels requires overcoming obstacles that prevent the mind developing knowledge, “epistemological obstacles.” To do so, reflections are required that go beyond mere analyses and strive to support the development of  learners’ minds by engaging them in philosophical interpretations. 5. Temporal reconstructions of  learning involve the question of  rhythmActual situations exist and do constitute the basic material for knowledge analysis. However, we cannot physically see the construction of  learning take place; we can only observe its effects. These observed results are produced by a temporal reconstruction of  knowledge. An instant clearly arises when a “eureka moment” has occurred, and even if  it is impossible to observe it in real time, we can create favourable conditions so it will take place, and moreover so it will take place consistent with the model of  critical thinking that is the New Scientific Spirit. This Bachelardian eureka is the “complex and fertile moment” when the learner, alone at the “table of  existence, before a blank page and in the candlelight, constructs his knowledge” (our translation). It is important to understand the metaphor here. The table of  existence constitutes the entirety of  the subject’s experience, all prior life situations; the blank page represents the reconstruction that needs to be done by the subject; and the light, the subject’s conscience. This instant engages the learner in a moment of  anagogical imagination, 10 Bachelard, G. Le nouvel esprit scientifique. AntistAsis 37a conscious daydream that leads to deconstructing one’s existing images in order to be able to transform them, to create new images, and to contribute to a new organization of  ideas. This conscious daydream creates specific images that exist but do not require a context. These complex and fertile moments must not take place only once during school. Rather, they instants must alternate in a rhythm in the learner. The real question of  alternation in education has to do with the ability of  offered programs to prompt the anagogical daydreaming needed for the development of  critical thinking.  ConclusionThe contribution of  Bachelardian’s pedagogical philosophy to teaching is the idea of  focussing not just on knowledge, but also on the contribution of  the construction of  knowledge in the development of  the mind of  students. The New Scientific Spirit offers a model for conceptualizing critical thinking. With this model the construction of  knowledge supersedes the identification of  skills in terms of  educational priority.BiographyLucie Roger is associate researcher at Université du Québec à Montréal. Her research focuses on professional learning. In her doctoral thesis, she is interested in the contribution of  the work of  Gaston Bachelard for the teacher training. Her email address is Roger.Lucie@UQAM.ca.

The Pedagogical Philosophy of Bachelard

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The Pedagogical Philosophy of Bachelard

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