Gilbert Durand

Born in 1921, Gilbert Durand is a known French academic for his work on the Imaginaire and mythology. Incorporated philosophy, successively professor of philosophy of 1947 to 1956, full professor and professor emeritus of sociology and anthropology in Grenoble II, Gilbert Durand was the cofounder - with Leon Cellier and Paul Deschamps in 1966 - and the director of the Research center on the imaginary one like member of the Circle of resistant Eranos and old of Vercors.

Disciple of Gaston Bachelard, Henry Corbin and Carl Gustav Jung, Master of Michel Maffesoli, Gilbert Durand acquired a world famous and its Center is today the core of a global area network of more than one about sixty laboratories.

Concepts of Gilbert Durand

Anthropological way

In order to break with the reductionnisms, Durand proposed a notion for a definition of the imaginary one: " the ceaseless exchange which exists on the level of imaginary between the subjective impulses and assimilatrices and the objective intimations emanating from the cosmic medium and social" (Anthropological structures of imaginary, Paris, 1960, p. 38). Durand notices that this position draws aside the problem of ontological anteriority since she postulates a " genesis réciproque" between the material environment and the " gesture pulsionnel". Thus Durand prolongs work of Swiss psychologist C.G. Jung ( psychological Types , Geneva, Georg, 1986, pp. 456-457) which had observed that it Me our conscience coincides with Self " cosmique" , conscious of its membership of a collective dimension.

Anthropological structures of the imaginary one

The theory of the " Anthropological structures of the imaginaire" (SAI) states two proposals, the first on the origin of imaginary, the second on the organization of its contents. Thus, the origin of imaginary is an answer to the existential anguish related to the experiment " négative" " Temps". The human being knows that he will die one day because Time makes it pass from the birth to death. From this existential and universal anguish is born the imaginary one. The imaginary one is a creator of images and figures (Bachelard), but this creation is not a disordered chaos. Being based on the attempts at classification of the productions of imaginary (Bachelard, Eliade, etc) but by showing their limits, the theory of the SAI proposes a classification on the basis of two principle, one being based on the reversible logic of the anthropological way and the other on a critic of structuralism, and advances three structures - i.e. groupings of similar symbols of forms - general, with vocation universal (or anthropological): schizomorphe, mystic and synthetic. Thus, the imaginary one would not be inexhaustible, ad infinitum. It would reproduce, it would be repeated according to " axes" logics and isomorphic. The origin of this three whole of imaginary comes from work of F. Minkowska ( Of Van Gogh and Seurat to the drawings of children , Paris, teaching Musée, 1949). The structure schizomorphe concerns the diurnal of the image, the structures mystic and synthetic mode of the night mode. Each mode of imaginary has its laws of assemblies of the images and its logics. The assembly in the mystical structure of the night mode is done under the conduit of a logic of similarity or homeology, and analogy. In the diurnal mode, the images gather between them according to identity principle, or are pushed back by contradiction or exclusion.

Bibliography of Gilbert Durand (works)

anthropological structures of imaginary the , Paris, Dunod (1st Paris edition, P.U.F., 1960).
the mythical decoration of Chartreuse of Parma , Paris, Jose Corti (1961)
imagination symbolic system , Paris, PUF (1st edition in 1964).
Social sciences and tradition. The new anthropological spirit , Paris, Albin Michel (1st ED. Head of sheet-Sirac, Paris, 1975).
mythical Figures and faces of work. The mythocritique one with the mythanalyse , Paris, International Berg, 1979.
the striped heart , Paris, Denoël, 1980.
faith of the shoe-maker , Paris, Denoël, 1984.
Art schools and prototypes. The religion of art , Paris, P.U.F., 1989.
the imaginary one. Test over sciences and the philosophy of the image , Paris, Hatier, 1994.
Introduction to the mythodology. Myths and companies , Paris, Albin Michel, 1996.
Fields of imaginary the . Texts joined together by Daniele Chauvin, Grenoble, Ellug, 1996.
the myths founders of freemasonry , Paris, Dervy, 2002.

In collaboration:

& Simone Vierne, the myth and mythical the , Paris, Albin Michel, 1987. (http://www.ccic-cerisy.asso.fr/mytheTM87.html)
& Sun Chaoying, Myths, topics and variations , Paris, Desclée de Brouwer, 2000.

A complete bibliography of the publications of Gilbert Durand is in Champs of imaginary the , texts joined together by Danièle Chauvin, Grenoble, Ellug, 1996, pp. 243-256.

Bibliography on Gilbert Durand

MAFFESOLI Michel (to dir.), the Galaxy of the imaginary one. Derives around work from Gilbert Durand , Paris, international Berg, 1980.
PACHTER Michele, " Gilbert Durand" , Companies , vol. 1, No June 4th, th and th 1985.
DURAND Jean-Pierre & Robert WEIL, contemporary Sociology , Paris, Vigot, 1993, pp. 212-215.
GODINHO Helder, " Gilbert Durand" in THOMAS Joel (to dir.), Introduction to methodologies of imaginary the , Paris, Ellipses, 1998, pp. 140-149.
CABIN Philippe, " A cartography of the imaginary one: Discussion with Gilbert Durand " , Social sciences , January 1999. (http://www.scienceshumaines.com/index.php?lg=fr&id_article=10565)
ERSEL Patrice van, " The return of the gods. Discussion with Gilbert Durand" , New Keys , 30, be 2001, p. 54-59. http://www.nouvellescles.com/article.php3?id_article=514
BERTIN Georges, " " For the Imaginary one, principles and méthodes" , Critical spirit, vol. 4 n° February 2nd, th and th 2002 (http://www.espritcritique.org/0402/article2.html)
XIBERRAS Martine, Practical of the imaginary one. Reading of Gilbert Durand , Laval, Presses of the Laval University, 2002.

Recensions of works of Gilbert Durand

Social science and tradition. The new anthropological spirit of Diane STEIGERWALD in Religiologiques, N°17, 1998: http://www.religiologiques.uqam.ca/recen/17recdurand.html
Myth, topics and variations of Gabriel LEFEBVRE in Religiologiques, °23, 2001: http://www.religiologiques.uqam.ca/no23/23recension.html#durand

References

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