Puissances de la dérivée. Égogéographies d’aujourd’hui

Twenty years after the publication of his book, Égogéographies, the author makes a balance sheet of the approach he developed in the book. Exploring a researcher’s psyche first of all implies the necessity of putting apart any social epistemology that refuses the concept of actor. It also supposes a fair assessment of the strengths and weaknesses that a self-analysis inevitably includes. A potential outcome can be the detection of continuities and discontinuities an intellectual itinerary generates. In this regard, the geographies of a scientist’s self can bring a significant content and would deserve to be more deeply analysed. Finally, the table of cultural productions, which had been published in the book, is examined anew. It shows the intersection of two couples, affective/cognitive and subjective/objective, and can be of some use to connecting scientific activity to other dimensions of individual life. This exploration of the psychological conditions of scientific productivity can eventually be relevant for any scholar.