Customer Reviews

The Philosophy of No: A Philosophy of the New Scientific Mind.

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This book, by a French philosopher of science, was originally published in 1940. It seems noteworthy for its early positive recognition of Alfred Korzybski's work. Bachelard wrote: "Those of us who are trying to find new ways of thinking, must direct ourselves towards the most complicated structures. We must take advantage of all the lessons of science, however special they may be, to determine new mental structures. We must realize that the possession of a form of thought is automatically a reform of the mind. We must therefore direct our researches towards a new pedagogy. In this direction, which has attracted us personally for a number of years, we shall take as our guide the very important work of the non-Aristotelian school, founded in America by Korzybski, which is so little known in France" (108). I also found noteworthy, from a general-semantics perspective, Bachelard's discussion of his "epistemological profile." The epistemological profile provides a standard for evaluating the underlying assumptions of scientific discussions. This was reworked by general-semantics writer J. Samuel Bois and provides the basis for a scheme of viewing personal and cultural development. Bachelard's writing style, dense and metaphorical, lacks sufficient clarity for me at times. Nonetheless, I found the book stimulating enough to recommend to other explorers of thought. The philosophy of no is definitely not out of date.