Considerations about the Origins of French Style in History of Sciences

Abstract

This paper aims to reconstruct some steps of the emergence and consolidation of the so-called French style in the history of sciences, from the perspective of Georges Canguilhem, one of its main exponents. It begins with a brief characterization of this style, then seeks the moments in Canguilhem’s work in which he defines the more significant contributions of certain authors to the development of this style. First, Fontenelle’s critique of Cartesian thought; after Comte and Claude Bernard, passing by Montpellier School and Paris School of Medicine, until finally reaching the decisive contribution of Bachelard.