Bachelard, uncertainties and pandemic context. Prelude to a “philosophy of reinvention”

Abstract

The search for certainty is part of the history of thought. Modern science, founded on the mechanicism of physical laws, has determined the idea of objectivity as the source of an effective method to obtain predictability about phenomena. However, contemporary physics has established a break with this classical conception by establishing new methods and establishing the function of probability as a principle of indeterminism in the quantum world, as Bachelard explains. But the relationships of uncertainty did not remain in the microphysical domain. They also stood out in the socio-cultural domain, explains Bauman. We think that the arrival of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic reinforced the feeling of insecurity of individuals by breaking with the usual modes of existence whose modern belief in a stable and harmonious world is rooted. This article aims to highlight the problem of uncertainty in times of pandemic highlighting its origins, and to propose some elements that can contribute in the field of practical philosophy based on Bachelard's ideas. It is important to think about a “philosophy of reinvention” in times of pandemic and post-pandemic.