Georges Canguilhem

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Lore & Background

Canguilhem entered the École Normale Supérieure in 1924 alongside Jean-Paul Sartre, Raymond Aron, and Paul Nizan. He aggregated in 1927 and taught in lycées throughout France, studying medicine while teaching in Toulouse. In 1941 he took a post at the University of Strasbourg in Clermont-Ferrand, and received his medical doctorate in 1943 during World War II. Using the pseudonym 'Lafont,' he served as a doctor in the French Resistance in Auvergne. By 1948 he was department chair in philosophy at Strasbourg, and in 1955 he became a professor at the Sorbonne, succeeding Gaston Bachelard as director of the Institut d'histoire des sciences until 1971. He was awarded the Sarton Medal in 1983 and the médaille d'or from the CNRS in 1987. His principal works include Le Normal et le pathologique (1943, expanded 1968) and La Connaissance de la vie (1952), which explore normality in medicine, the specificity of biology, and the irreducibility of organisms to machines.

Reader's Guide

Canguilhem's significance lies in his development of a rigorous historical and philosophical approach to the life sciences, emphasizing the concepts of the normal and the pathological. His work critiqued the reduction of biology to physical science and argued for understanding organisms in relation to their milieu, drawing on a non-dogmatic reading of Marx and an idiosyncratic vitalism. As Inspector General and president of the jury d'Agrégation in philosophy, he directly influenced philosophical instruction in France. His mentorship of Michel Foucault and his impact on thinkers like Althusser, Derrida, and Lacan made him a central figure in 20th-century French thought. Foucault noted that without Canguilhem, much of Althusserism, Bourdieu's sociology, and Lacanian psychoanalysis would be difficult to understand. Canguilhem's writings have been increasingly translated into English, solidifying his legacy in the history and philosophy of science.

Did You Know?

• Canguilhem entered the École Normale Supérieure in 1924 in a class that included Jean-Paul Sartre, Raymond Aron, and Paul Nizan.
• During World War II, he served as a doctor in the French Resistance under the pseudonym 'Lafont' in Auvergne.
• He succeeded Gaston Bachelard as director of the Institut d'histoire des sciences in 1955 and held the post until 1971.
• He was awarded the Sarton Medal by the History of Science Society in 1983 and the médaille d'or from the CNRS in 1987.
• Michel Foucault wrote that without Canguilhem, you would not understand much about Althusser, Bourdieu, or Lacan.