Abstract
This chapter draws together preceding conclusions to show the central significance of error for Canguilhem’s biological philosophy. Examining an unpublished 1955–1956 lecture course clarifies how it addressed error as a philosophical and social-political problem by studying the history of biological sciences. Because this philosophy depends on his understanding of technical and artistic creation, I exemplify this before examining imagination’s role in human life as a vital response to monstrous alteration that makes both artistic and scientific activity possible. Yet in banishing monsters as imaginary, positivist science becomes monstrous itself. There is no escaping such alterations. I conclude, therefore, by considering his biological philosophy’s spirit and ability to endure the alteration that threatened it when Canguilhem finally recognized error as a scientific concept.
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Notes
- 1.
Canguilhem (1951, 413).
- 2.
For a different presentation of this course in relation to Foucaultian biopower, see Talcott (2014).
- 3.
It could be worth investigating whether Canguilhem’s students address these formulations in their own writings.
- 4.
His ideas about contrariety call for elucidation via Eugène Dupréel’s philosophy of values.
- 5.
Foucault’s archeologies might be read as pushing Canguilhem further on this point.
- 6.
De Le Motte’s 1676 painting appears to nearly copy of Cornelius Gijsbrechts’ Trompe-l’oeil with Studio Wall and Vanitas Still Life, 1668, oil on canvas, Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst, inv. KMS st 537.
- 7.
Canguilhem alludes to contemporary discussions of cybernetics. Further investigation of this must await a more developed investigation of his later writings.
- 8.
Further discussion awaits an in-depth examination of his contemporaneous and later writings.
References
Canguilhem, Georges. 1951. “Interview with Michel Tournier.” Radiodiffusion française, série “Connaissance de l’homme,” émission diffusée le 5 septembre; Published in Canguilhem 2015 as “Le mythe de la jeunesse,” 405–413.
———. 1952. “Réflexions sur la création artistique selon Alain.” Revue de métaphysique et de morale 57 (2) (avril–juin): 171–186; Reprinted in Canguilhem 2015, 415–435.
———. 1955–1956. Course Notes, “La Science et l’Erreur.” Fonds Georges Canguilhem, Centre d’Archives de Philosophie, d’Histoire et d’Édition des Sciences—UMS 2267.
———. 1956. “Expérience et aventure.” Rivages. Óragão dos Alunos do Curso Liceal do Lycée Français Charles Lepierre, octobre 1956, pp. 1, 17; Reprinted in Canguilhem 2015, 673–676.
———. 1963. “La constitution de la physiologie comme science.” In Physiologie, Tome 1, edited by Charles Kayser. Paris: Flammarion; Reprinted in Canguilhem [1968] 2002, 226–273.
———. [1965] 2008. Knowledge of Life. Translated by Stefanos Geroulanos and Daniela Ginsburg. New York: Fordham University Press; [1952] 1965. Connaissance de la vie. 2nd ed. Paris: Vrin.
———. [1966] 1989. The Normal and the Pathological. Translated by C. R. Fawcett. Brooklyn: Zone Books; [1943] 1966. Le normal et le pathologique. Paris: PUF.
———. [1968] 2002. Études d’histoire et de philosophie des sciences. Paris: Vrin.
———. 2015. Oeuvres complètes. Tome 4. Edited by C. Limoges. Paris: Vrin.
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Talcott, Samuel. 2014. “Errant Life, Molecular Biology, and the Conceptualization of Biopower: Georges Canguilhem, François Jacob, and Michel Foucault.” History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 36 (2): 254–279.
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Talcott, S. (2019). Put to the Test: Canguilhem’s Biological Philosophy and a New Concept of Error. In: Georges Canguilhem and the Problem of Error. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00779-9_8
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