This paper considers the theoretical circumstances that urged Michel Foucault to analyse modern societies in terms of biopower. Georges Canguilhem’s account of the relations between science and the living forms an essential starting point for Foucault’s own later explorations, though the challenges posed by the molecular revolution in biology and François Jacob’s history of it allowed Foucault to extend and transform Canguilhem’s philosophy of error. Using archival research into his 1955–1956 course on “Science and Error,” I show that, for Canguilhem, (...) it is inauthentic to treat a living being as an error, even if living things are capable of making errors in the domain of knowledge. The emergent molecular biology in the 1960s posed a grave challenge, however, since it suggested that individuals could indeed be errors of genetic reproduction. The paper discusses how Canguilhem and Foucault each responded to this by examining, among other texts, their respective reviews of Jacob’s The Logic of the Living. For Canguilhem this was an opportunity to reaffirm the creativity of life in the living individual, which is not a thing to be evaluated, but the source of values. For Foucault, drawing on Jacob’s work, this was the opportunity to develop a transformed account of valuation by posing biopower as the DNA of society. Despite their disagreements, the paper examines these three authors as different iterations of a historical epistemology attuned to errancy, error, and experimentation. (shrink)

Resumo: Assim como o neokantismo, a fenomenologia e a filosofia analítica, também a epistemologia histórica francesa teve sua emergência no contexto da crise das ciências, na virada para o século XX. Por seus desdobramentos particulares, as obras de Gaston Bachelard e de Georges Canguilhem romperam, cada uma a seu modo, respectivamente com o neokantismo representado por Brunschvicg e por Alain. Neste artigo, propõe-se retirar algumas consequências epistemológicas, éticas e políticas dessas duas rupturas, analisando brevemente as particularidades de cada um dos (...) dois casos.: As well as neo-Kantianism, phenomenology and analytical philosophy, French historical epistemology also had its emergence in the context of the crisis of the sciences at the turn of the 20th century. Due to their own developments, the works of Gaston Bachelard and Georges Canguilhem broke, each in its path, respectively with the neo-Kantianism represented by Brunschvicg and by Alain. In this article, we propose to draw some epistemological, ethical, and political consequences of these two ruptures, briefly analyzing the particularities of each of the two cases. (shrink)

Twelve years after his famous Essay on Some Problems Concerning the Normal and the Pathological (1943), the philosopher Georges Canguilhem (1904–1995) published a book-length study on the history of a single biological concept. Within France, his Formation of the Reflex Concept in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (1955) contributed significantly to defining the “French style” of writing on the history of science. Outside of France, the book passed largely unnoticed. This paper re-reads Canguilhem’s study of the reflex concept with respect (...) to its historiographical and epistemological implications. Canguilhem defines concepts as complex and dynamic entities combining terms, definitions, and phenomena. As a consequence, the historiography of science becomes a rather complex task. It has to take into account textual and contextual aspects that develop independently of individual authors. In addition, Canguilhem stresses the connection between conceptual activities and other functions of organic individuals in their respective environments. As a result, biological concepts become tied to a biology of conceptual thinking, analogical reasoning, and technological practice. The paper argues that this seemingly circular structure is a major feature in Canguilhem’s philosophical approach to the history of the biological sciences. (shrink)

It has become customary since Foucault to present Canguilhem as a man whose work is voluntarily restricted to a particular domain of the history of science. Yet the current edition of his Complete Works reveals that Canguilhem has never considered himself a true historian of science. If he traced “the history of the formation, deformation and rectification of scientific concepts”, it is above all to nurture his profession of professor of philosophy with “unknown material”. On the assumption that Canguilhem subordinates (...) the history of science to teaching, this article will try to make a further step and show that its inter-regional approach of knowledge can serve as a paradigm in educational sciences, when the knowledge to be transmitted is a-disciplinary and has a strong normative dimension. (shrink)

RESUMEN Se indaga el problema de la explotación técnica del mundo a partir de los pensamientos de Xavier Zubiri y Georges Canguilhem. Se examina el análisis zubiriano de la inteligencia humana y la tesis de Canguilhem sobre la originalidad de la actividad técnica, su relación con la ciencia y su papel en la normatividad del organismo. En ambos autores, el término Umwelt, traducido como "circun-mundo" o medio de comportamiento propio, sirve como base para establecer las posibilidades que tiene la técnica (...) en el desarrollo de nuevas formas de relación con el medio ambiente. ABSTRACT The paper inquires into the problem of the technological exploitation of the world on the basis of Xavier Zubiri's and Georges Canguilhem's thought. It examines Zubiri's analysis of human intelligence and Canguilhem's thesis regarding the primordial nature of technological activity, its relation to science, and its role in the normativity of the organism. In both authors, the term Umwelt, translated as "surrounding-world" or behavioral environment, serves as the basis to establish the possibilities of technology in developing new forms of relationship with the environment. (shrink)

Georges Canguilhem’s philosophy of life, according to which the living is a normative subject, grounds its epistemology in medicine. Medicine is a technique or an art that aims to restore the individual normativity of the patient. It can only be practiced based on the knowledge and understanding of the life norms, and on experience and values, in other words, on the subjectivity. This explains why the clinic and the therapeutics require a personal relationship between the physician and the patient.

La fenomenología husserliana es concebida desde el principio como un intento de superar la metafísica tradicional. El presente estudio intenta comprender el sentido y alcance de esta superación mediante un viaje al interior del proyecto filosófico de Husserl. En su itinerario intelectual dos conceptos son fundamentales: la reducción y la pregunta por el origen. En estas coordenadas la fenomenología es presentada como una filosofía que restituiría el sentido ori-ginario de la metafísica y de todo el proyecto científico.From the beginning Husserl’s (...) Phenomenology is conceived as an attempt to overcome the traditional metaphysics. The present study tries to understand the meaning and scope of this overcoming by an incursion into the interior of the philosophical project of Husserl. In his intellectual itinerary two concepts are fundamental: the reduction and the question of the origin. In these coordinates Phenomenology is presented as a philosophy that would restore the original meaning of metaphysics and the entire scientific project. (shrink)

The article explores theoretical convergences between the work of Georges Canguilhem and Lucien Febvre on the theme of science and technique. In comparing the scholarship of both authors from the 1920s through 1940s, we endeavor to show that their critique of mechanistic determinism was rooted in the concept of the genres of life and its creative interaction with the environment.

Se indaga el problema de la explotación técnica del mundo a partir de los pensamientos de Xavier Zubiri y Georges Canguilhem. Se examina el análisis zubiriano de la inteligencia humana y la tesis de Canguilhem sobre la originalidad de la actividad técnica, su relación con la ciencia y su papel en la normatividad del organismo. En ambos autores, el término Umwelt, traducido como “circun-mundo” o medio de comportamiento propio, sirve como base para establecer las posibilidades que tiene la técnica en (...) el desarrollo de nuevas formas de relación con el medio ambiente. (shrink)

En este ensayo se propone una comprensión de la visión que construyó Foucault sobre la reflexión filosófica en torno a la ética. Se destaca la importancia del libro “Las palabras y las cosas” en esa construcción. Más concretamente se propone que hay una continuidad en los trabajos finales de la investigación sobre la filosofía antigua con los problemas planteados de acuerdo con la investigación arqueológica del libro de 1966. Esa continuidad se analiza en la dimensión de la genealogía del humanismo, (...) base de una concepción de la condición humana como errancia, y de los desarrollos en relación con el ejercicio de un discurso verdadero como ética de la palabra. (shrink)

In this article I assess Georges Canguilhem's historical epistemology with both theoretical and historical questions in mind. From a theoretical point of view, I am concerned with the relation between history and philosophy, and in particular with the philosophical assumptions and external norms that are involved in history writing. Moreover, I am concerned with the role that history can play in the understanding and evaluation of philosophical concepts. From a historical point of view, I regard historical epistemology, as developed by (...) Gaston Bachelard and Georges Canguilhem, as a conception and practice which came out of the project, elaborated in France from the 1920s to the 1940s, of combining history of science and philosophy. I analyse in particular Canguilhem's epistemology in his theory and practice of history of science. What he called 'normative history' is the focus of my analysis. I evaluate the question of the nature and provenience of the norm employed in normative history, and I compare it with the norm as discussed by Canguilhem in Le normal et le pathologique. While I am critical of Canguilhem's treatment of history, I conclude that his philosophical suggestion to analyse the formation of scientific concepts 'from below' represents a useful model for history and philosophy of science, and that it can be very profitably extended to philosophical concepts. (shrink)

In the late 1960s, Georges Canguilhem introduced the concept of ‘scientific ideology’. This concept had not played any role in his previous work, so why introduce it at all? This is the central question of my paper. Although it may seem a rather modest question, its answer in fact uncovers hidden tensions in the tradition of historical epistemology, in particular between its normative and descriptive aspects. The term ideology suggests the influence of Althusser’s and Foucault’s philosophies. However, I show the (...) differences between Canguilhem’s concept of scientific ideology and Althusser’s and Foucault’s respective concepts of ideology. I argue that Canguilhem was in fact attempting to solve long-standing problems in the tradition of historical epistemology, rather than following the lead of his younger colleagues. I argue that Canguilhem’s ‘refurbishment without rejection’ of Bachelard’s epistemology, which the concept of scientific ideology was aimed to implement, was necessary to justify the historical narratives that Canguilhem had constructed in his own work as a historian of concepts. A strict acceptance of Bachelard’s epistemology would have made it impossible to justify them. Canguilhem’s concept of scientific ideology therefore served as a theoretical justification of his practice as a historian. I maintain that the concept of scientific ideology was needed to reconcile Bachelard’s normative epistemology with Canguilhem’s view of the history of science and its aims, which differed from Bachelard’s more than it is generally acknowledged. (shrink)

Luego de estudiar las relaciones de poder en la modernidad, Michel Foucault realizó una conceptualización de la crítica, a la que describió como una actitud de inservidumbre que denuncia al poder por sus efectos de verdad y a la verdad, por sus efectos de poder. Años más tarde, presentó la modernidad como una actitud que busca encontrar los límites que nos han formado como sujetos, para luego atravesarlos. Finalmente, caracterizó el cuidado de sí como una actitud, como una práctica de (...) libertad. En este artículo rastreo las distancias y cercanías entre la actitud crítica, la moderna y la que cuida de sí, para contrastarlas con una actitud que difícilmente puede caracterizarse como una práctica de libertad: el empresario de sí. Esta comparación permite interrogar el potencial de la crítica, la modernidad y el cuidado de sí como prácticas de resistencia o de libertad. (shrink)

A história intelectual do século XX tem sido escrita ao longo de um cenário que vê, na morte de Merleau-Ponty em 1961, a linha de divisória entre uma geração existencial e fenomenológica e o evento do estruturalismo imediatamente subsequente. A publicação das notas de leitura de Merleau-Ponty sobre o texto A origem da geometria, de Edmund Husserl, tem mostrado quão frágeis são os alicerces desta leitura simplificadora. Na verdade, enquanto a tradução e introdução de Derrida ao texto de Husserl, de (...) 1962, tornavam-se um texto fundamentador para a geração estruturalista, introduzindo uma reflexão sobre a historicidade e a materialidade da idealidade, foi apenas em 1998, com a publicação das notas da conferência de Merleau-Ponty no Collège de France, em 1959, sobre o mesmo tópico, que se tornou claro quão próximo está o primeiro Derrida do último Merleau-Ponty. Assim como Derrida, Merleau-Ponty identificou, na tensão husserliana entre arqueologia e teleologia, o problema básico da fenomenologia, introduzindo a questão da história e a do meio de transmissão cultural. Comparar tais leituras em seu contexto específico não apenas permite um retrato mais complexo dos debates intelectuais da época, mas também mostra como, com a interpretação de Merleau-Ponty sobre A origem da geometria, a "diferença" de Derrida antecede-se e admite outra genealogia. (shrink)

Tussen zijn veertigste en zijn zestigste levensjaar was Jan Hendrik van den Berg (1914) een uitermate succesvol en populair auteur. Boeken van zijn hand, zoals Metabletica (1956) en Medische macht en medische ethiek (1969), waren ongekende bestsellers. Hij was de Nederlandse vertegenwoordiger van een belangrijke Europese stroming in de filosofie: de historische fenomenologie. In de jaren zeventig raakte hij echter in conflict met zijn tijd. Terwijl de Nederlandse publieke opinie een wending naar links doormaakte, bond Van den Berg de strijd (...) aan tegen verloedering, hooliganisme en anarchisme. Dit ging ten koste van zijn populariteit, maar niet van zijn productiviteit, noch van zijn innovativiteit. Tot op de dag van vandaag werkt hij aan een indrukwekkend , panoramisch oeuvre. Hij is de belangrijkste Nederlandse filosoof sinds Bolland. -/- Deze studie wil het werk van Van den Berg reconstrueren, situeren en beoordelen. Reconstrueren door de methodische en thematische coherentie ervan zichtbaar te maken. Situeren door het te confronteren met dat van andere, verwante auteurs zoals Husserl, Freud, Bachelard en Foucault. Beoordelen door na te gaan in hoeverre Van den Berg de inzet van zijn project, zowel inhoudelijk als methodologisch, waarmaakte. -/- Het werk van Van den Berg is geen curiosum, maar opvallend actueel. Hij onderzoekt het begin, de aanvang van wetenschappelijke en maatschappelijke ontwikkelingen waarvan het belang in de huidige situatie met nadruk zichtbaar wordt. Zijn beeldende stijl wekt de geschiedenis van de wetenschap tot leven, maar werd vaak als ‘anekdotisch’ afgedaan; zijn talent voor polemiek lokte soms felle reacties uit en zijn methodologische flexibiliteit maakte hem een gemakkelijk doelwit van academische kritiek. Aan de positieve kant van de balans staan echter zijn intellectuele enthousiasme en zijn internationale faam. Zijn werk verdient een rehabilitatie. (shrink)

Prispevek izhaja iz Foucaultovih predavanj o razsvetljenstvu in njegovi kan-tovski utemeljitvi. Najprej oriše novost Foucaultove analize razsvetljenstva, nato pa skuša s pomočjo prikaza Kantove filozofije zgodovine in njegove teorije sublim-nega pokazati, da Kantov spis Spor fakultet oz. njegov osrednji koncept zgodovinskega znaka prebija okvir Foucaultove analize in odpira pot lacanovski razlagi Kantove filozofije zgodovine.

The eminent French biologist and historian of biology François Jacob once notoriously declared, “On n’interroge plus la vie dans les laboratoires” : 20-25): laboratory research no longer inquires into the notion of ‘Life’. In the mid-twentieth century, from the immediate post-war period to the late 1960s, French philosophers of science such as Georges Canguilhem, Raymond Ruyer and Gilbert Simondon returned to Jacob’s statement with an odd kind of pathos: they were determined to reverse course. Not by imposing a different kind (...) of research program in laboratories, but by an unusual combination of historical and philosophical inquiry into the foundations of the life sciences – a project that at the time was termed ‘biophilosophy’, although this proved to be a short-lived term, as a kind of ‘alternate paradigm’ with respect to mainstream philosophy of biology, as Jean Gayon has noted. Even in as scholarly a work as La formation du concept de réflexe aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Canguilhem speaks oddly of “defending vitalist biology,” and declares that “la vie déconcerte la logique.” Was all this historical and philosophical work merely a reassertion of some ‘magical’ vitalism? Indeed, Canguilhem credits Bergson’s ‘thinking of life’ as well. In order to answer this question we need to achieve some perspective on Canguilhem’s ‘vitalism’, notably with respect to its philosophical influences including a Bergsonian legacy, not least since Canguilhem was first an anti-vitalist, anti-Bergsonian, as Giuseppe Bianco has described, but then evolved into his own idiosyncratic brand of vitalism, in which life “is concept”. Did this make Canguilhem more or less of a ‘biophilosopher’? A vitalist like Bergson, or differently? These are the issues addressed in this paper. (shrink)

This study attempts to make explicit the importance of the French philosopher and epistemologist Leon Brunschvicg as antecedent and preparation for the reception of phenomenology in France. The proximity of this author with some representatives thinkers of French epistemology, who are associated to Husserl –Koyré and Cavillès– and with other French phenomenologists –Lévinas and Merleau-Ponty– makes him a key piece in the development of the phenomenological tradition. Finally, we will try to highlight the points of communication between the philosophies of (...) Brunschvicg and Husserl. (shrink)

My paper aims to elucidate the emergence of subjectivity from the interplay between living beings and their environment. This attempt to give account of becoming-subject within the life itself leads to a confrontation between the phenomenology of life pursued since at least two decades by Renaud Barbaras with Canguilhem´s philosophy of biology. It starts with a criticism of Merleau-Ponty’s and Patočka´s respective failures to overcome the contrast between the level of bare life and the level of human existence. In order (...) to answer such a prejudicial separation between unexamined life and self-reflected existence, I adopt in the second part a bio-centric perspective on human existence, inspired by Canguilhem and Guillaume Le Blanc, in order to re-evaluate the notion of life in terms of normative, expansive movement that both shapes the living being itself and individuates the elements on which it acts. The final part of the paper seeks to understand the emergence of subjectivity from ordinary life-challenges such as illness and experiences of vulnerability or fragility, thus bypassing the need for stipulating a self-referencing consciousness as a primary mode of self-disclosure. (shrink)

Ob interpretaciji Kantovega pojmovanja Aufklärung je Foucault ekspliciral svojo teoretsko pozicijo, kar ima odločilne posledice za teorizacijo zgodovine znanosti kot tiste tradicije, ob kateri se je v Franciji ohranjala ravno njena dediščina. Aufklärung je koncept, ki zadeva sam modus zgodovinskosti in ga lahko razložimo kot nadaljnjo specifikacijo Foucaultove »arheološke faze«, kolikor pomeni njeno »pozitivno« dopolnitev, ki ji je utrla pot opredelitev zgodovine znanosti per negationem, s pojmoma diskontinuiranosti in historičnega apriorija. Aufklärung kot paradoksna točka križanja določenega zgodovinskega obdobja z občim (...) načelom zgodovinskosti, kot točka, od koder se razsežnost zgodovine šele odpre in istočasno ustavi, otrdi, ponuja tudi izhodišče za nadaljnjo obdelavo Canguilhemove zgodovine znanosti v okviru razmerja med »znanstveno ideologijo« in znanostjo in vprašanja »nezamišljivega«, nezvedljivo ahistoričnega, »izključenega« momenta, ki vztraja v samem jedru modusa zgodovinskosti. V tej perspektivi ponuja Foucaultova Aufklärung rešitev za težave althusserjan-skega pojmovanja razvoja znanosti kot nenehnega ponavljanja epistemološkega reza med znanostjo in ideologijo, ki se ne more izogniti drsenju v slabo neskončnost. (shrink)