The material imagination and images of Gaston Bachelard : the possibility of communication of images as subjective recognition

Abstract

The poetics and the scientific philosophy of Gaston Bachelard tend to be studied separately and there is a still unknown part about these relations. Therefore, in this paper, I consider the concept of the material imagination, paying attention to the relation between scientific philosophy and poetics. Bachelard made the problem of imagination the theme in "Psychoanalysis of Fire". It was written for consideration of science, and scientific philosophy and imagination are regarded there as being opposites. But afterward, this book became a part of poetics. Because of this conversion, the whole poetics is opposed to scientific philosophy, and one problem is posed. That is, the poetics has to discuss new, original images, which obtain people's consent. And to solve this problem, the new concept of imagination Is needed which is " material imagmation". This concept overcomes the difficulty by two ways. One is to attach importance to materiality, which is the concept discussed already in scientific philosophy. The second is to put to use the theory of psychoanalysis. Because of this solution, material imagination can serve as an important concept in early poetics, and it reflects the important influence of scientific philosophy on the poetics.