Charting Links between Life, Science, and Technique: Georges Canguilhem and Lucien Febvre

Abstract

The article explores theoretical convergences between the work of Georges Canguilhem and Lucien Febvre on the theme of science and technique. In comparing the scholarship of both authors from the 1920s through 1940s, we endeavor to show that their critique of mechanistic determinism was rooted in the concept of the genres of life (not only human) and its creative interaction with the environment.

Keywords

• Technique
• genres of life
• Annales
• Georges Canguilhem
• Lucien Febvre