What does Gaston Bachelard's beard have to do with philosophy? A defense of its relevance for philosophy is the result of a series of choices about the nature of philosophical inquiry, first of all concerning the reader's relationship with past philosophical texts.¹ If, as I believe, philosophical knowledge is inextricable from its cultural, historical and social setting, a beard may play an important role. By considering philosophy as a historical and social product, the distinction between "philosophical texts' and their "context' becomes blurred and loses part of its importance. Philosophers and their admirers (or enemies) can be studied as more than authors and readers of philosophical texts. They can be studied as agents who, through their social relationships, have contributed to philosophical ideas, to the success of such ideas and the success of themselves as individuals or members of groups in various ways. Philosophers can be sometimes examined as being embodiments of values and aspirations, i.e. as symbols, and their bodies become very important. In other words, if philosophy does not belong to the kingdom of disembodied and timeless ideas, beards have a place in philosophy, especially if, like Bachelard's, they are philosophical beards. His beard, his face and his body are known by anybody who has read his work because they appear on the covers of books by him and about him. Books about him often have photographs on plates.