Metaphysics in Gaston Bachelard's "Reverie"

Author(s): Caroline Joan ("Kay") S. Picart

Source: Human Studies, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Jan., 1997), pp. 59-73
Published by: Springer
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Human Studies 20: 59-73, 1997. 59

1997Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in theNetherlands.

in Gaston

Metaphysics

Bachelard's

"Reverie"

CAROLINE JOAN ("KAY") S. PICART

Division

of Arts

and Humanities,

College

of Liberal

Arts,

Florida

Atlantic

University,

Davie,

FL 33314, USA.

Abstract. This paper aims to trace the evolution of Bachelard's thought as he gropes toward
a concrete formulation of a philosophy of the imagination. Reverie, the creative daydream,
occupies the central position inBachelard's emerging metaphysic, which becomes increasingly
"phenomenological"
does not use Husserlian

in a manner
terms,

reminiscent
he appropriates

of Husserl.
the following

This means
features

that although
of (Husserlian)

Bachelard
phenom?

enology: 1. a desire to "embracket" the initial (rationalistic) impulse; and 2. an aspiration to

in its entirety,
of an image. Ultimately,
the creative
epiphany
concerns
is a sense
in which
Bachelard's
metaphysical

apprehend
that there

this paper aims to show

are an out?
in his poetics

growth of (rather than radical break from) his earlier scientific and epistemological concerns.
ametaphysic
in reverie
is an aesthetic
of the imagination:
intentionality
providing
is an object only
such as fire or water,
insofar as it enables/calls
forth a
object,
a
to
enter
into
and
cosmic
state
of
self-aware
and
subject
receptive,
object
subject-ness
being;
ness are intimately
intertwined.
and archetypally
Bachelard's
results from his
"new poetics"
of the general
of the "new scientific
transplantation/cross-fertilization
epistemology
spirit" on

What

results

the aesthetic

to/across

1.

his

aesthetics.

Introduction

The academic

career of Gaston

one of France's fore?

Bachelard
(1882?1962),
was
to
devoted
and the history
20th-century
philosophers,
epistemology
and philosophy
of science. A militant
rationalist and materialist
concerning
also indulged his fertile imagination
in a series of studies
science, Bachelard

most

on imagination, from The Psychoanalysis of Fire (1938) to The Poetics of

Reverie (1960).
as an epiphanic
general method may be briefly characterized
a perpetual play of consciousness
teases out,
that alternately
wrestles with, and recedes from the emergence
of an image. To Bachelard,
the
is
two
that which provokes
and inspires
image
yet opposing
complementary
of the human mind: science and aesthetics.1
dynamisms
Bachelard's
?

movement

In this paper, I initially attempt to trace the evolution of Bachelard's

thought
as he gropes toward a concrete formulation of a philosophy
of the imagination;
attraction
Bachelard's
eventu?
towards a phenomenology
of the imagination
a
new
an
him
and
with
draws
towards
method
of
it,
metaphysic
ally
implicit
doing

literary criticism.

60

C.J.S.

PICART

is one of dialectical
tension: a creative polarity between
The new metaphysic
the
"material"
the
"formal"
and
the human
the
the mind and
soul,
imagination,
will to be imagined.
Reverie,

the creative
metaphysic,
reminiscent

emerging
a manner

in Bachelard's
the central position
daydream, occupies
in
which becomes
increasingly
"phenomenological"
of Husserl.2
Bachelard's
"reverie" may be ultimately

as a phenomenology
of the imagination
insofar as he views
the
as
as
in
the
rooted
the
and
world
world,
intrinsically
imaginable
imagination
so inti?
Subject and object become
only via the archetypes of the imagination.

described

in reverie (which
of epoch, phenomenological
the subject that gazes upon

intertwined

mately
notions

bears

similar

features

to the Husserlian

that in
reduction)
as
as the
the
and
is
rich
diverse
reverie,
object
object, and the object is intimately bound up with the subject in the genera?
he
does not use Husserl's
tion of meaning.
Though Bachelard
terminology,
most
the
in
features
of
the
(Husserlian)
general way,
following
appropriates,
reduction

and eidetic

1.A desire to "embracket"

the initial (rationalistic)
impulse;
phenomenology:
in its entirety, the creative epiphany of an
to apprehend
and 2. an aspiration
image.
As I follow

Bachelard's

reveries

on the elements

of fire and water

to his

on the image of space and finally, his reveries on poetic reverie

I
towards the image contours his
show how such an ambivalence
shall
itself,
of
the imagination.
Bachelard
seeks to
archaeology
Eventually,
preliminary
? a
resolve this ambiguity
through a treatment of the image on its own terms

meditations

It is these impli?
for literary criticism.
half of the paper. Yet, as I shall attempt
is the complementary
aesthetic philosophy
to show, Bachelard's
counterpoint
rather than its antithesis.
to his scientific philosophy

result

cations

2.

that has profound consequences

that I focus on in the second

Fire, Water

and

the Material

Imagination

The Psychoanalysis of Fire (1987) reflects Bachelard's shiftfrom scientific to

science as break?
the start, Bachelard
characterizes
contact
the
with
immediate object. As such, reason
ing away from the initial
with matter
and common-sense
associations
requires not only that sensations
be critically assessed, but also that words themselves be subject to the scrutiny
are made for singing and enchant?
of objective
thought, "for words, which
contact with thought" (Bachelard,
1987, p. 1). The poetry
ing, rarely make
aesthetic

concerns.

From

is dangerously
seductive. Requiring
caution, but awaken?
inspired by matter
an
from Bachelard
the
it
forth
draws
ambivalent
reaction
ing sensibilities,
fascinates
and
and
Like fire, poetry allures
distorts,
destroys,
epistemologist.
calms and ravages.

METAPHYSICS INGASTON BACHELARD'S"REVERIE" 61

in the Psychoanalysis
objective
Initially, Bachelard's
of Fire appears to be
a direct offshoot
concerns. He is concerned
of his earlier epistemological
to the rationally constructed
another obstacle
with transcending
knowledge
the attitude of awe and wonderment
science:
caused by
of contemporary
an uncritical
contact with an everyday
like
fire.
he
reality
Consequently,
the need

for malign
of "first
vigilance
against the temptations
attractions
and
careless
reveries"
1987,
(Bachelard,
impressions,
sympathetic
must
be
freed
from
such
responses
p. 3). Objective
knowledge
subjective
emphasizes

through "psychoanalysis."
In keeping with its Freudian model,
the implicit hope of Bachelard's
psy?
once
are
that
the
is
subconscious,
processes
choanalysis
image-producing
to rise to consciousness,
the rational mind will be freed from their
allowed
Bachelard
influences. However,
borrows only the main outlines of
repressive
he attributes the persistence
of a "secret idolatry
a
not
to
the
of
1987,
p. 5)
(Bachelard,
depths
repressed subconscious
of
held
but to a less primordial
semiconscious
attitudes or
layer
commonly
the Freudian

schema. Hence,

of fire"

images. Hence,
state of reverie
following

Bachelard
rather

attributes

the image-generating
He distinguishes

than that of dreams.

center

to be

the two

the

in the

way:

. . . reverie
always more

is entirely different from the dream by the very fact that it is

or less centered upon one object. The dream proceeds
on

its own way in a linear fashion, forgetting its original path as it hastens
in a star pattern.
along. The reverie works
out new beams. (Bachelard,
1987, p. 14).

To explore

the nature

of reverie

consciousness

prescientific
scientific mind,

from

akin to the child's

It returns

to its center

to shoot

even further, Bachelard

the
differentiates
the scientific mind. For Bachelard,
the pre
tends to personify
inanimate
consciousness,

to him/her, since the fire appears to resist consistently

Hence,
being
then fire must be an entity with awill (Bachelard,
controlled,3
1987, p. 16). On
the other hand, the scientific mind, while noticing
the quickness
and tenacity
of fire, has reduced these "secondary"
attributes to the reasoned categories
of scientific knowledge.
The prescientific
mind
is animistic;
the scientific
mind operates on the principle of abstraction. Hence,
"for the primitive man,
objects.

reverie; for the educated modern man, reverie is a loose

thought is centralized
form of thought. The dynamic meaning
is completely
in the two
opposite
cases" (Bachelard,
1987, p. 22).

62

CJ.S.

Towards

3. Moving

a Theory

PICART

of the Literary

Imagination

The sixth chapter of The Psychoanalysis of Fire appears to be the point at

which

Bachelard

over" from

"crosses

science

to aesthetics.

It is here

that

concerns
Bachelard's
shift from a
complex."4
to an examination
of objective knowledge
of the proposition
is a creator of language" (Bachelard,
1987, p. 87).
He recalls the experience
of watching
lapses into reminiscing.

he discusses

the "Hoffman

psychoanalysis
that "alcohol
Bachelard

or br?lot. From these memories,

his parents prepare a burnt-brandy
he intuits
a sense of the material
He discovers
base of the imagination.
in his own
a close association
reveries of fire a common
of
insight echoed by Hoffman:
subject and object. This prompts
of the imagination:
classification

him

to enunciate

his now

famous

four-part

to
and concrete bases must not be forgotten,
if we wish
precise
our
the psychological
of
understand
constructions_If
meaning
literary
it should suggest a classification
present work serves any useful purpose,

The

themes which

of objective

We

of
prepare the way for a classification
not yet been able to perfect an overall
and the doctrine of the four tem?
elements

would
have

temperaments.
poetic
doctrine of the four physical
In any case, the four categories
of souls inwhose dreams fire,
peraments.
to be markedly
show themselves
differ?
water, air, or earth predominate^
ent. Fire and water, particularly,
remain enemies even in reverie, and the
listens to the sound of the stream can scarcely comprehend
person who
the person who hears the song of the flames: they do not speak the same
language:

(Bachelard,

It is important
between
dence
imagination.
itate toward

to note

1987, p. 89).
that Bachelard

a theory of correspon?
is proposing
and the aesthetic "elements"
of the

poetic "temperaments"
is that reveries of certain writers grav?
The position he suggests
can
one
and that such tendencies
of
the
four
of
elements,
images

is at stake here is the relationship

they adopt. What
the imagination and language rather than a specific, naive realism. In
between
the fundamentally
this
step, Bachelard
acknowledges
subjective nature
taking
it
that
concludes
he
naive
of
may be a threat
realism; nevertheless,
although
it is also a source of poetry.
to scientific objectivity,
be detected

Bachelard,
respecting
ity of poetic
liberating
analysis,

in language

a difficult
act: that of
at this point,
is attempting
balancing
and of enjoying
the spontane?
of scientific rationalism
to accomplish
this not by
He proposes
imagination "legitimately."

the rigours

unconsciously
repressed activity, in the manner of classical psycho?
as
but by consciously
it, so that "the error is recognized
repressing

METAPHYSICSINGASTONBACHELARD'S"REVERIE" 63
1987,
such, but it remains as an object of good-natured
polemic" (Bachelard,
a
He
that
of
will
"dialectical
sublimation"15
p. 100).
process
evidently hopes
allow the image to exist as well as enable him to study it objectively.
to this approach to reverie is Bachelard's
Fundamental
undeniable ambiva?
lence toward the poetic imagination. Like the burnt-brandy or like fire itself,
imagination is something to be enjoyed, but also something that must be con?
trolled. Chastened by his earlier training as an epistemologist,
he views this
new psychological
as
to
known
be
the
constraints
within
something
reality
of rationally organized knowledge. Hence, he refers to the taxonomy of the
material
imagination as a "Physics or Chemistry of reverie" (Bachelard, 1987,
p. 90). Even when, toward the end of the book, he moves from an examina?
tion or reveries, which can be known psychoanalytically,
to the poetic images
states
to
that
would
he
"it
be
match
the psychologi?
themselves,
interesting
cal study of reverie with the objective study of the images that entrance us"
1987, p. 107).
having initially set out to free fire-reveries from their animistic irra
stumbles across the discovery of the poetic expression
tionalism, Bachelard
of these reveries - the particular verbal images produced by the imagination
of fire. This discovery prompts him to formulate a new project: an "objective
(Bachelard,
Hence,

1987, p. 109) that integrates "the hesitations,

literary criticism" (Bachelard,
the ambiguities"
1987, p. 110) that precede the poem itself and
(Bachelard,
are constitutive
of the creative process. This direction is clearly followed
in
another of his pieces of poetics: Water and Dreams.

4. Water

Images

In a passage from Water and Dreams

(1983), Bachelard returns to his pro?
fessed goal of being a rationalist while acknowledging
his failure to do so
water.
when encountering
of
images
reduced the role of psychoanalysis
in his
Although Bachelard undeniably
of water images, this does not mean that the method he resorts
examination
to is un-reasoned.
to exorcise these images as he did
Instead of attempting
with the fire-images, he focuses on the transformations
of the sources of these
images as these images become verbally manifest. He pays attention to the
circumstances
surrounding the literary expression of images in an attempt to
a
to the psychology
contribution
of literary creation" (Bachelard,
"provide
between
1983, p. 216). The distinction
- it
a
in
shift
marks
method,
significant
outlines of a new metaphysic.

and psychoanalysis
is
psychology
and with it, the slowly congealing

64
5.

C.J.S.

The Material
Imagination:
Consciousnesses

PICART

The Link

between

the Pre-scientific

and

Aesthetic

Bachelard distinguishes between two axes of the imagination: the formal and
thematerial (Bachelard, 1983, p. 1).The formal axis draws its impetus from
the varied,
and eternal.

the novel,
primitive
a formal

imagination
Bachelard
Although

and the unexpected;

the material
axis roots itself in the
these two axes, two types of imagination
emerge:
and a material
imagination.

From

are
that these two types of imagination
recognizes
in
he
the
the
believes
nevertheless
of
material
intertwined,
primacy
essentially
to him, the formal
over the formal imagination.
This is because
imagination
intimate contact with images one
the immediate,
conceptualizes
imagination
gains

through

the material

imagination.

In the realm of the imagination, it is not somuch the object as the element
calls "the unconsciousness
of
that generates
images. Matter, which Bachelard
form" (Bachelard,
1983, p. 70), is the unseen impulse that imbues a particular
it
its poetic power. The perceived
object is literally superficial
image with
a
as
to
matter. Thus, the taxonomy
surface and is secondary
of
exists only
in his earlier book becomes
outlined
the imagination Bachelard
of the material
classification
imagination.
to note that many of the reveries of the material
It is interesting

a tetravalent

imagination
are the very epistemological
to
in his
obstacles Bachelard
transcend
sought
and the contem?
both the prescientific
consciousness
earlier works. Hence,
porary aesthetic mind build from the primacy of matter over form. That is,
tenet of naive realism: that the qualities
they both draw from a fundamental
sub?
of an underlying
of objects
(e.g., color or shape) are simply reflections
stance. What

then differentiates

the prescientific

mind

from

the contemporary

consciousness?

poetic
For Bachelard,

because

pseudoscience

reverie.

subjective
produce
reveries

authentic
in rational
whereas

However,

a
and other prescientific
thinkers produced
and
their descriptions
sprang from a more primordial

the alchemists
On

their contemporary
heirs, the poets,
access
to these same
have
they

the other hand,

literature, precisely
form.

because

the rationalism

science

necessitates

is that of militant

surrender. It
is that of spontaneous
poetry
vigilance,
links the
that
the
into
creative
of lapsing
is the naturalness
reverie,
daydream,
not labor to give in to daydreams;
poetic mind to the prescientific mind. We do
enables

the rationalism

we

us. Although
today's
substratum
the elemental

them to overcome

allow

and new

prescientific

be about new

forms,
unchanged.
reverie
realism and contemporary
point between prescientific
an
a
to distinguish
and
between
Bachelard
image. "The
metaphor
of images that we take as simple
conceives
mind
concretely

objects
It is this nexus
that prompts

reveries may
remains

METAPHYSICS INGASTON BACHELARD'S "REVERIE'

65

. . ."
It really thinks the earth drinks water
1983,
(Bachelard,
to
The
is
the
is
creative.
Bachelard,
imitative;
p. 168).
metaphor,
image
is a visual,
The metaphor
conceptualized
figure that may even be used to
In contrast, the image precedes
it is
illustrate scientific
concepts.
concepts;

metaphors.

not exhausted

by rational

knowledge.

Germinal to Bachelard's developing ontology is the paradoxical dialectic

between

reality and anti-reality.

It shows how Bachelard

comes

to terms with

the notion that the reality of life, which is both objective and subjective,
simply transcends determinable logical patterns. The literary imagination
reverie-that
inventive, unpredictable
aspect of "real" life.
verbally enfleshes
It gives human life the same non-deterministic
that
rationalism
imbues
reality
contemporary

science with.

reverie serves an ontological

function by transmuting
the spon?
Therefore,
taneous contact with an immediate
terms.
As
it is
into
human
such,
object
to real life what reason is to the physical world - an escape for solipsism.
a patch of carefully constructed,
Reason does so by following
real?
objective

ity,which is intimately linkedwith itsmethod of knowing; reveriemoves in

the direction of a subjective reality,which is inseparablefrom itsmeans of
expression.
in Water and Dream, Bachelard
Hence,
begins his search for a "superhu?
man" faculty?that
which will enable the human being to create a surrealism.
His concerns
shift from a primary concern with how reality is known
to a
fascination with how human inventiveness
and openness
translates material
human reality.
reality into a particularly

6.

Towards

a Phenomenology

of the Imagination

returns to an archaeology
of the
of Space (1969b), Bachelard
no
of the imagination.
There is
doubt that this time, he
symbolic
ontology
on its own terms, giving it the philosophy
intends to treat the imagination
it
In the Poetics

deserves.

He

recognizes

that the frameworks

to be unsatisfactory

of psychoanalysis
and psychol?
to
the
approaches
literary image.

ogy ultimately
prove
Hence, he adopts the phenomenological
approach.
In the manner
of phenomenologists,
Bachelard
attempts to "bracket" pre
?
to
concrete reality as well as
attitudes
references
i.e., objective
experiential
an
to
to the overall composition
in
ascertain
the
role
of
relation
attempts
image
to Bachelard;
of the literary piece. It is not that such tasks are useless
they are
to the immediate apprehension
of the image. For Bachelard,
simply secondary
the
is the literary image itself.
the fundamental
of
reality
literary imagination
to the empirical reduction of an
to him, phenomenology
is opposed
Hence,
external to it. Instead, the phenomenological
he
method,
image to something

66

CJ.S.

consists

posits,

of "designating

PICART

the image

as an excess

of the imagination"

(Bachelard, 1969b, p. 112). Such a method is necessarily hyperbolic

it

an essential

of the image and proposes

that the best
exaggeration
recognizes
method
for the reader to enter into the image is to "prolong the exaggeration
. . .
the habits of reduction"
1969b,
(Bachelard,
[in order to escape from]
in
Bachelard's
method
differs
p. 118). The exaggeration
phenomenological
whose
role, in his
radically from the reductive techniques of psychoanalysis,
later works, visibly diminishes.
:
in its variant manifestations
focuses on a specific image?space
Bachelard
in the "oneiric
are interrelated

house," drawers, trunks, nests, and seashells. All these images

in their common
evocation
of a relationship
of intimacy and

refiige.
After

in
three chapters on the dialectical
spatial relationships
represented
or open
the tension between
the large and the small, inside and outside,
concludes with a chapter on "The Phenomenology
and closed, Bachelard
of
an
as
This chapter may be viewed
Roundness."
attempt to sketch the paradox
?
that dissolves
of entry into an image: an experience
such that
oppositions
the "large" and the "small," the "inside" and the "outside," and the "open"
and the "closed"
serves

to justify
is self-sufficient

6.1.

of an eternal being.
spaces are simply manifestations
-a
now embraces
the method Bachelard
phenomenology
and non-referential.

A Phenomenology

of Poetic

It also
that

Reverie

(1969a) represents Bachelard's

attempt to give pro?
of Reverie
to his phenomenological
methods without
cedural coherence
falling into the
source
to
He
the
be
of
coherence
of
of
reductionism.
poetry
trap
envisages
rather
To Bachelard, when the image is &poetic
than
his new method.
image
a fragment
of a freely-floating
reverie, it acquires a positive value because of
use in the poem. Hence,
it is poetic
reverie rather than simply
its controlled
The Poetics

that interests Bachelard

reverie
Having

established

in this piece.
from the reductive

his distance

methods

Bachelard

in The Poetics

allows

of psycho?
to
himself

of Space,
analysis and psychology
that attempts to respect the reality of
the light of a perspective
reconfront?in
?
on
he
the
of the imagination. Accordingly,
the image
psychology
questions
in favor of a Jungian one. Hence, he adopts
discards the Freudian framework
a method

of active

imagination

than psychoanalysis;
i.e., he draws
being careful not to reduce images to a

rather

of depth psychology,
stresses the need for an "absolute sublimation"
He
(Bachelard,
reality.
an
of imagined reality into the words
transformation
idealized
1969a, p. 58),
leads him to adopt another of Jung's insights:
of the poem. This procedure

from

hidden

the lessons

METAPHYSICS INGASTON BACHELARD'S "REVERIE'

the androgynous
idealizing

6.2.

basis
?

principle

Anima

of

the human

psyche,

particularly

in relation

67
to its

the anima.

and Animus

use of the Jungian terms ofanima

and animus builds from
Briefly, Bachelard's
men
the deep-seated
and women. This androgeneity
is
duality in the psyche of
at the source of the human disposition
to organize and execute projects
(ani?
and the equally
(anima). In The Poetics

mus),

of the feminine
ma

over

human

for imagination
and daydreaming
like Jung, stresses the primacy
Bachelard,
it is the ani?
element precisely
because

propensity

of Reverie,
the masculine

that is especially
suited to a phenomenological
an
more
to
of reverie.
approach and,
exploration
particularly,
or
the creative daydream, akin to the anima princi?
This is because reverie,
the
of the human psyche
in both men and women.
reflects
feminine
side
ple,
rather

Bachelard

than the animus

is solitary and
opposes reverie with the nocturnal daydream, which
He enhances this opposition
in gram?
by stressing the difference
between
dream
In
the
and
the
reverie.
the
dream
French,
gendering

unconscious.
matical

(le rev?) or (le singe) ismasculine; the daydream (la reverie) is feminine.
To Bachelard,
distinct element
root

itself

a reverie

is not a derivative

of a well-balanced

in two main

characteristics

human

of a dream; it is a necessary
and
The
seems
to
difference
psyche.

of reverie:

1. it is communicated

and

lived through writing; and, 2. it allows consciousness

to intervene. The dream,
in contrast, is self-contained
and swallows up the being of the dreamer.
in pursuing
his goal of examining
reverie rather than the
Nevertheless,
a
on
Bachelard
that
will
not
insists
lose sight of both the
dream,
methodology
and the feminine

ultimate
aspects of the human psyche. Bachelard's
a
dreamed communion
of
project is that of studying "a reverie which places
anima and animus,
the two principles
of the integral being, in the soul of a

masculine

values" (Bachelard,
1969a, p. 91). As such, only a reverie
a non-conceptual,
is suitable to the
phenomenological
approach
can
of images. "The image
only be studied through the image,
as
in
reverie.
It is nonsense
to claim to study
by dreaming
images
they gather
one
the
since
receives
imagination objectively
really
image only if he admires
dreamer

of human

on reverie,
examination

it" (Bachelard,
1969a, p. 53).
tension between
The resulting

in Bachelard's
later
image and concept,
offshoot of the opposition
between
reverie and
and animus, and ultimately,
of science and aesthetics. This
if one is to respect the perspectives
direction
is inevitable,
of both activities.
In
the same way the image cannot lead to the concept without distorting
thought,
on poetics,
the dream, anima

is a natural

the image cannot

be examined

works

by the concept without

being

distorted.

68
7.

C.J.S.

The Metaphysics

Bachelard

outlines

PICART

of Reverie
three attributes
The

first

of reverie

that make

is a Proustian

recall

such a phe?
possible
of the "nucleus
of

reading.
nomenological
childhood"
reawakens.
1969a, p. 100) that poetry spontaneously
(Bachelard,
In keeping with
the Romantic
tradition, such a past is admired rather than
adored and loved rather than dissected
and treated with suspicion.
perceived;
sense of won?
The recreation of the past through reverie renews the childhood
to an in-anima

reading. Such an m-anima

reading, with
and openness,
is very much
in keeping with
the
on
or
at bay
emphasis
phenomenological
"bracketing"
keeping
to
"scientific
Bachelard's
"common
attitude," which
corresponds

der that is essential

on receptiveness

its stress
Husserlian
Husserls'

or the "epistemological
obstacle."
a
also
Bachelard
outlines
second trait of reverie

sense"

Again,
Bachelard

after

the radical

stressing
borrows
the Cartesian

difference

between

its self-consciousness.
reverie

and dream,6
ergo sum, to

formula, cogito
ontological
of a phenomenological
reverie. His
use of the term cogito (Bachelard,
on a
1969a, p. 150) implies his emphasis
that is aware of his/her thinking activity, which,
consciousness
in turn, springs
draw out the metaphysical

from an awareness

consequences

of his/her

is "phenomenological"
a foundational
"intentionality"

as a separate subject. Again,

insofar as its structure implicitly

existence

approach

relationship
etration/symbiotic
are meaningless
"objectness"
subject only insofar as there

such an
renders

refers to the interpen

principle.
Intentionality
and
and
binding subject
object. "Subjectness"
save in relation to each other. A subject is a

to. An
is an object that he/she gives meaning
a
an
as
it
insofar
for
whom
exists
is
is
subject
object only
meaningful.
object
between
the traditional "strong" ontology
Bachelard
(1969a,
distinguishes
the former
(1969a, p. 167). Whereas
p. 166) and his "differential"
ontology
the subject and object, the
of opposition
between
begins from a framework
the interp?n?tration
between
latter recognizes
subject and object made pos?
he/she
is the poet or reader,
sible through reverie. The daydreamer, whether
own

being and of the subjectively

subjective
in reverie the relationship
between
viewed world;
subjective
consequently,
one
and
confirmation.
Reverie
enhancement
of
becomes
world
and
being
and
mutual
of/for
the
enables confirmation
subject
object. It
necessity
through
remains

conscious

also enhances
tion

of his/her

the relationship

to the hyperbolization

between

subject

and object through its injunc?

of the "aesthetic
object." An

and prolongation
in the primordial
exemplified

or cosmic
image of fire,
object,"
in
must
or
the
intensified
be
for
air
instance,
water,
earth,
imagination
by
a
as
mind
to become
order for these objects
large
enabling
truly universal,
as the subjectivity
as manifold
that
as the universe
intends, and a universe
"aesthetic

intends

it.

METAPHYSICS INGASTON BACHELARD'S "REVERIE" 69

into a new formula:
cogito is transformed
exists as I dream it" (Bachelard,
the world

to reverie, Descartes'
the world,
therefore

Applied
"I dream

1969a, p. 158). In reverie, the traditional chasm separating subject and object
that the subject accommodate
need not exist. Where
demands
objectivity
to a rationally organized physical
reality, producing
of subject and object, self-aware
reverie accommodates

himself/herself
mentation

to a subjective

reality,

thus escaping

from

the subject-object

the frag?
the world

opposition

with?

out dissolving the unique identity of the subject. It is through the "irreality
that such a synthesis
is possible.
at this point, again sounds like a Husserlian
Bachelard,

function"

his castigation
of the "scientific
"scientific attitude" necessitates

attitude." For both Husserl

phenomenologist
and Bachelard,

in
the

the epistemological
stance of the vivisection
life, borrowing from T.S. Eliot, lies like a patient etherized
the "phenomenon"
of the new scientific
upon a table. In contrast,
spirit is
a
an
nor
neither
intentional object of consciousness.7
thing in itself
simply
In its "first approximation,"
this phenomenon
is produced by physicists
and
ist before whom

for example,

in their scientific

It is produced materially,
activities.
means
and
of
but also mentally
in
through experimentation
by
techniques,
that it is articulated by means of scientific concepts.
Similarly, an account of the "aesthetic phenomena"
(such as images of fire,
earth
and
for
Bachelard
water, air,
space,
example)
speaks of may be set up.
chemists,

Bachelard's

aesthetic

in
ricochet
(i.e., "imaginative
phenomena
substances")
This is because
it appears that to Bachelard,
the objects
of the "material imagination"
in the
(such as alchemical
images) are elements
sense: they are both inner and outer. Hence,
to take a concrete
pre-Socratic
between

three senses.

to scientific) phenomenon
of water
streams and rivers; 2. literary and
visually portrayed bodies of water; 3. archetypal aqueous
images.
In line with this stress of the "archetypal" nature of these imaginative
"ele?

the poetic/aesthetic
(as opposed
example,
across
three levels: 1. actual ponds,
plays

the third major

attribute Bachelard
ascribes to reverie is its cosmicity.
a voice to the world, creates a "cosmic image" (Bachelard,
1969a, p. 175). This transcendental
image sculptures the world and the dream?
- a
a
into
unified
universal
stable,
ing object
being
primal archetype. "Reverie
unifies cosmos
and substance"
1969a, p. 176). For Bachelard,
(Bachelard,

ments,"

Reverie,

in giving

reverie enables
the state of being-in-relation
that characterizes
ultimately,
the Husserlian
"eidetic/transcendental
the
reduction,"
entry into the realm
not
in
of "essences,"
the classical
Platonic
sense, but in a more properly
hermeneutic

sense, commanding
a
in
object
poetic synthesis.
To Bachelard,
reverie, which
izing and free.

It transcends

a complete
culminates

the surface

interp?n?tration

of subject

and

in the poetic word,

is both ideal?
common
of immediate
categories

70

C.J.S.

PICART

sense

It simultaneously
co-creates
both the dreamed world and
experience.
sense
we
can
It
in
the dreaming
is
that
this
describe Bachelard's
later
subject.
a
even?
form of subjective
idealism. This is because Bachelard
thoughts as

to the idealist or symbolic

is essential
the view that subjectivity
- a
as "the realization
of
the
he
describes
process
emerging
ontology
image
an
in
animus
in
anima"
of
effective
idealization
and
1969a, p.
(Bachelard,
takes

tually

92).

8.

Conclusions

it is evident
In conclusion,
the human
between
tionship
him

to follow

in his exploration
that Bachelard,
of the rela?
the
and
the
of
emergence
psyche
image, leads
an increasingly
he
method.
Hence,
subjective
begins with a
on to a psychology,
a
moves
to
then
and
phenomenology

psychoanalysis,
of images. His epistemological
interests are gradually displaced
hermeneutic
a
to malign
attraction.
The
imperative
against
by
metaphysical
vigilance
an
is
into
replaced by
appeal to a joyous and admiring
lapsing
daydreams
it is easy to conclude
in poetic reverie. From such an observation,
absorption
that Bachelard's
earlier

interests

concerns

aesthetic

constitute

a radical break

away from

his

in science.

to take this position would be to oversimplify

the positive dialectic
However,
the Bachelardian
At
I am
that characterizes
of
this point,
style
reasoning.
not proposing
to collapse
the distinctions
between
science and aesthetics.
in insisting on the difference
between
the
Indeed, Bachelard's
consistency
two shows his profound grasp of the special nature of these endeavors. What
concerns
in his pieces on
I am suggesting
is that Bachelard's
metaphysical
is an outgrowth
poetics
interests.

(even

if only partially)

of his earlier

epistemological

faculties
of the mind
and reverie, the principal
(in the new
constitute an escape from
science) and the soul (in the new poetics), essentially
common
sense is reminiscent
idealization
reverie's
beyond
solipsism. Hence,
a
of
science of "second approximation"
of the transcendence
(i.e., a science
Both

reason

or "common
in the "thing-ism"
the naive view enmired
beyond
to
the
associated
and
values/orientations
adheres
of
objects
sense-icality"
that "realizes
the rationality"
of the new
with
the "phenomenotechnique"
that gets

science) (Bachelard, 1984, p. 3). The hypothesis that I am setting forth is that
Bachelard's

work

in the epistemology

of science made

him wary

of a priori,

universal and rigid logical categories. This endowed him with the flexibility
to respond to the inventive images of surrealism
sensitively.
to the tradi?
of this "new" science (as opposed
The peculiar epistemology
sense" that presents an "epistemological
attitude"/"common
tional "scientific

METAPHYSICS INGASTON BACHELARD'S "REVERIE'

71

obstacle" to the "rise of rationality") necessitates building from the sociolog?

ical and historical

of science. For Bachelard,

the epistemology
of
a
a
ascent
demands
continual
revolution,
spirit"
perpetual
into the realm of reason cast in the elegant language of mathematics.
Hence,
a key feature of his philosophy
is his concept of the "epistemo?
of science
character

scientific

the "new

in two contexts.
this notion
First, to describe
logical break." He employs
even contradicts
in which
off
from
and
scientific knowledge
the way
splits
An
common-sense
and
belief.
cites
he
is a remark from
experiences
example
a chemistry
text that states that glass is similar to zinc sulfite, which
is not
of the two substances
but on the fact they
based on any overt resemblance
structures.
analogous
crystalline
even
more
Second,
radically than simply filling in the gaps where the every?
uses "epistemological
break" to describe
tapers off, Bachelard
day experience

both possess

how novel
familiar

scientific

facts. An

concepts are required to give an adequate account of even

example Bachelard
gives to illustrate this is how Lamarck's

are
to explain
the nature of combustion
yet futile attempts
perspicacious
more
overcome
on
successful
Lavoisier's
his
Based
observations,
attempt.
by
to be a process
Lamarck
combustion
the "vio?
interpreted
through which
lence" of fire unmasks
the fundamental,
color of paper
black
underlying
was
successive
chromatic
colors.
For
what
Bachelard,
by stripping away
rooted
wrong with Lamarck's
principally
approach was that he remained
within
the realms of the common-sensical,
and of direct, natural observation;
in contrast,
the "new scientific
the movement
towards
spirit," necessitates
and the experimental
production
laboratory conditions.

artificial

investigation

of phenomena

under

As

such, Bachelard
essentially
transplants the chief insights of his philoso?
?
as the need for an open, flexible
of
which
be
summarized
science
may
phy
? on to
to
the
continuous
revolutions
his
of science
philosophy,
adaptable
in contemporary
revolution
literature, without
an
mass.
two
into
Both science and
collapsing
disciplines
amorphous
literature require not only their own "differential
but their own
ontologies,"
as
well.
epistemologies

exploration

of

the aesthetic

these

and "hermeneutic"
Bachelard's
Hence,
"phenomenological"
approach
to literature. It is the means
the image is his epistemological
response
that is least disruptive
adopts to know the literary image, in a manner
in the same way that his epistemology
the image's active mode of being,

to
he
to
of

sprang from an unmediated

study of the unique features of contempo?
uncovers obstacles
to the full
rary scientific activity. Such a phenomenology
same
in
of
the
his
creative
is
the
way
imagination
expression
epistemology
science

one of "rupture" and release from various "epistemological

obstacles." Both
of the imagination
and epistemology
of science
Bachelard's
phenomenology

72

C.J.S.

aware

remain

of the delicate

PICART

tension

how we

between

know

we

and what

know.

It is this twofold

that

allows

Bachelard

and

and metaphysics
interplay between epistemology
to effect a "cross-fertilization"
between his scientific

them as disparate yet related realities:

interests, while
recognizing
in a similar way to how the legs of a compass are conjoined
in
and yet move
each
other.
different from
directions
aesthetic

Notes
amount

1. A certain

the way

surrounds
of controversy
commentators
Some

and aesthetics.

science

it seems

just what

and

is essentially

irreconcilable.

a relation

Bachelard

perceives
that Bachelard's

conclude

On

the other

obvious

between
is

duality

others

hand,

perceive

hidden strands of unity within a tapestry that depicts the bifurcation between science and
poetry.

For

of

examples

the spectrum

of positions

on

the matter,

to the following:

refer

Poulet (1965, pp. 1-26), Gagey (1970), Margolin (1974), Smith (1982).
2. Refer to Husserl (1982, pp. 53-55, 59, 94-95, 108, 110-111, 115, 142, 160, 187, 204,
278, 302).
3. For

it is difficult
in some instances,
fire is hard to light; in others,
Ernst Theodor
whose
is to the German
Romantic,
Hoffman,

example,
allusion

4. The

to put out.
stories

fantasy

were inspired by intuitions of alcohol or "fire-water" (1987, pp. 90-91).

5. This is reminiscent of themethod of dialectical transcendence he expresses in his works
on

science.

is a shadow who
"while
the dreamer
of the nocturnal
dream
6. To Bachelard,
has lost his
. . . can formulate
a cogito
at the center of his dreaming
of reverie
self
self, the dreamer
... reverie
a glimmer
in which
is an oneiric
of consciousness
subsists"
p.
(1965b,
activity

150).
7. For a similar

approach,

to Glieder

refer

(1989,

pp. 27-53).

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of Reverie.
M.
Boston:
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G.

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A.C.M.
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A.

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