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In Les structures anthropologiques de l’imaginaire (1968), Gilbert Durand insisted on the “essential” nature of the imaginative function, the original matrix in which any rational thinking originates. The symbolic anchorage of the theoretical activity had already been proven in philosophy and the sciences. Here, a case study extends the question to the field of the philosophy of science: do epistemological systems rely on fundamental archetypes? The study examines Gaston Bachelard’s 1938 La formation de l’esprit scientifique. Using isotopic classification of the images, this work enters into a specific schizomorphous trend and rejects mystical and synthetic influences. The three imaginary constellations seem likely to inspire a specific philosophy of science. They provide ontological representations for the rational study of science. In the end, even in epistemology, “the purest concepts never disconnect from the original figurative sense.”