Per una genealogia della fenomenotecnica

Abstract

The article proposes a genealogy of the concept of “phenomenotechnics” that takes into account the experimental training of Gaston Bachelard and the most mature expressions of his epistemology. The concept of “phenomenotechnics” is part of a pluralist, dialectical, open and dynamic rationality and is found in an orientation that values the “applied materialism” of the physical-chemical and mathematical sciences of the twentieth century. I will try to describe the genealogy of this orientation by focusing, for the early writings, on the Essai sur la Connaissance Approchée (1927) and on Noumène et microphysique (1931-1932) and, for the mature works, in the two volumes Le Rationalisme Appliqué (1949) and Le Matérialisme Rationnel (1953) and discussing in conclusion the different interpretations of “phenomenotechnics”. It can be established that phenomenotechnics is the production of new phenomena, extends from particle physics to chemistry, distinguishes experimentation from simple observation, is connected to mathematical noumenology. The concept remains strongly anchored, since the Essai sur la Connaissance Approchée, to the innovations produced by instrumental technology in microphysics and atomic chemistry and has such evidence and such a widespread presence in Bachelard’s writings that it imposes itself as a strongly characterizing element of his epistemology. It testifies to the value, for Bachelard, of technological innovations in culture and scientific research, within the framework of a unitary dimension of his thought.