Roch C. Smith is Professor Emeritus of French Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is the author of Gaston Bachelard, Revised and Updated: Philosopher of Science and Imagination, also published by SUNY Press, as well as books on Alain Robbe-Grillet and André Malraux.

• Translator’s introduction Preface to the French Edition Introduction: The Fundamental Complexity of AtomisticsPart I. 1. The Metaphysics of Dust 2. Realist Atomism 3. Problems of the Composition of Phenomena Part II. 4. Positivist Atomism 5. Critical Atomism 6. Axiomatic Atomism Conclusion Notes Index

"…[Bachelard's] analysis of the different schools of thought on the nature of atomism was quite illuminating … his challenge both to natural scientists and to philosophers and theologians to construct a metaphysical system not as an end in itself but as a tool for further research and reflection was quite thought-provoking." — Process Studies

Roch C. Smith is Professor Emeritus of French Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is the author of Gaston Bachelard, Revised and Updated: Philosopher of Science and Imagination, also published by SUNY Press, as well as books on Alain Robbe-Grillet and André Malraux.

• Translator’s introduction Preface to the French Edition Introduction: The Fundamental Complexity of AtomisticsPart I. 1. The Metaphysics of Dust 2. Realist Atomism 3. Problems of the Composition of Phenomena Part II. 4. Positivist Atomism 5. Critical Atomism 6. Axiomatic Atomism Conclusion Notes Index

"…[Bachelard's] analysis of the different schools of thought on the nature of atomism was quite illuminating … his challenge both to natural scientists and to philosophers and theologians to construct a metaphysical system not as an end in itself but as a tool for further research and reflection was quite thought-provoking." — Process Studies

Roch C. Smith is Professor Emeritus of French Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is the author of Gaston Bachelard, Revised and Updated: Philosopher of Science and Imagination, also published by SUNY Press, as well as books on Alain Robbe-Grillet and André Malraux.

• Translator’s introduction Preface to the French Edition Introduction: The Fundamental Complexity of AtomisticsPart I. 1. The Metaphysics of Dust 2. Realist Atomism 3. Problems of the Composition of Phenomena Part II. 4. Positivist Atomism 5. Critical Atomism 6. Axiomatic Atomism Conclusion Notes Index

"…[Bachelard's] analysis of the different schools of thought on the nature of atomism was quite illuminating … his challenge both to natural scientists and to philosophers and theologians to construct a metaphysical system not as an end in itself but as a tool for further research and reflection was quite thought-provoking." — Process Studies