Roger Caillois and Gaston Bachelard: Approaches to the Imaginary

Abstract

This essay analyses the relation between two pioneer thinkers in the studieson the imaginary: Roger Caillois and Gaston Bachelard. From differentperspectives, both authors shared their interests and concern for the expressionsof the imaginary in the art, the myth and the sacred. In agreementwith certain surrealist ideas and the scientific becoming, they criticized thepositivist logic and they proposed the study of the imaginary. For instance,Roger Caillois, in the framework of the Sociology College, formulated a programfocused on the analysis of the myth, the sacred and the power; whileGaston Bachelard, studied some expressions of what meant for him, thetwo poles of the human psyche: science and poetry. From a more open andcomprehensive science, they proposed an approach to the imaginary. Theidea of Bachelard and Caillois about the biological basis of the imaginary isalso explained. The work of both thinkers emphasizes the importance of theimaginary in the human and social life; topic that has been currently developedby Gilbert Durand and later by Jean-Jacques Wunenburger