The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory

The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory PDF Author: Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691025247
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
This classic work in the philosophy of physical science is an incisive and readable account of the scientific method. Pierre Duhem was one of the great figures in French science, a devoted teacher, and a distinguished scholar of the history and philosophy of science. This book represents his most mature thought on a wide range of topics.

The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory

The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory PDF Author: Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691025247
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
This classic work in the philosophy of physical science is an incisive and readable account of the scientific method. Pierre Duhem was one of the great figures in French science, a devoted teacher, and a distinguished scholar of the history and philosophy of science. This book represents his most mature thought on a wide range of topics.

To Save the Phenomena

To Save the Phenomena PDF Author: Pierre Duhem
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022638165X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 147

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Book Description
Duhem's 1908 essay questions the relation between physical theory and metaphysics and, more specifically, between astronomy and physics–an issue still of importance today. He critiques the answers given by Greek thought, Arabic science, medieval Christian scholasticism, and, finally, the astronomers of the Renaissance.

Essays in the History and Philosophy of Science

Essays in the History and Philosophy of Science PDF Author: Pierre Duhem
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
ISBN: 9780872203082
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
"Here, for the first time in English, are the philosophical essays - including the first statement of the "Duhem Thesis" - that formed the basis for Aim and Structure of Physical Theory, together with new translations of the historiographical essays presenting the equally celebrated "Continuity Thesis" by Pierre Duhem (1861-1916), a founding figure of the history and philosophy of science. Prefaced by an introduction on Duhem's intellectual development and continuing significance, here as well are important subsequent essays in which Duhem elaborated key concepts and critiqued such contemporaries as Henri Poincare and Ernst Mach. Together, these works offer a lively picture of the state of science at the turn of the century while addressing methodological issues that remain at the center of debate today."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Can Theories be Refuted?

Can Theories be Refuted? PDF Author: Sandra Harding
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401018634
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description
According to a view assumed by many scientists and philosophers of science and standardly found in science textbooks, it is controlled ex perience which provides the basis for distinguishing between acceptable and unacceptable theories in science: acceptable theories are those which can pass empirical tests. It has often been thought that a certain sort of test is particularly significant: 'crucial experiments' provide supporting empiri cal evidence for one theory while providing conclusive evidence against another. However, in 1906 Pierre Duhem argued that the falsification of a theory is necessarily ambiguous and therefore that there are no crucial experiments; one can never be sure that it is a given theory rather than auxiliary or background hypotheses which experiment has falsified. w. V. Quine has concurred in this judgment, arguing that "our statements about the external world face the tribunal of sense experience not indi vidually but only as a corporate body". Some philosophers have thought that the Duhem-Quine thesis gra tuitously raises perplexities. Others see it as doubly significant; these philosophers think that it provides a base for criticism of the foundational view of knowledge which has dominated much of western thought since Descartes, and they think that it opens the door to a new and fruitful way to conceive of scientific progress in particular and of the nature and growth of knowledge in general.

Pierre Duhem

Pierre Duhem PDF Author: R. Niall D. Martin
Publisher: Open Court Publishing
ISBN: 9780812691603
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
More than any other major twentieth-century writer, Pierre Duhem has been the victim of ill-informed guesswork. For instance, many references to Duhem stress the importance of his Catholic faith, but nearly all of them draw the obvious-and entirely erroneous-conclusions about the role of Catholicism in Duhem's thinking. This book pays particular attention to the political and intellectual context of French Catholicism, wracked as it was by the tensions of Dreyfus affair and the so-called modernist crisis. Duhem took his inspiration, not from the papally-sponsored revival of the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, but from Pascal, a fact that aroused suspicions of skepticism in the minds of conservative Catholics. The tensions between Duhem's work and authoritarian Catholic positions became more explicit as his historical work unfolded. Most famous for his denial of the possibility of a crucial experiment which could unambiguously decide between contending scientific theories, Duhem has often been interpreted as a mere instrumentalist or conventionalist, denying the meaningfulness of a reality behind the theory. Dr. Martin shows that Duhem was a Pascalian who argued for both logic and intuition as indispensable in approaching the truth. Duhem argues that physics could not legitimately be used to attack Christianity, but he held that physics was equally useless for the defense of Christianity, a position which made him unpopular with many Catholics.

Mixture and Chemical Combination

Mixture and Chemical Combination PDF Author: Pierre Duhem
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9781402002328
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
In addition to lecturing in physics, Duhem began to publish articles on philosophical and historical topics related to his scientific interests in the late 19th century, many of which appeared in the Catholic journal Revue des questions scientifiques. The present volume focuses on chemistry, and includes the book, Le mixte et la combinaison chimique (1902), as well as several related articles from Revue des questions scientifiques and other sources, appearing here in English translation for the first time. Translated by Paul Needham (U. of Stockholm). For Duhem scholars, philosophers of science and chemists with an interest in philosophy. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

The Physicist as Artist

The Physicist as Artist PDF Author: Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : France
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description


Duhem and Holism

Duhem and Holism PDF Author: Milena Ivanova
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009020145
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 118

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Book Description
The holistic thesis developed by Pierre Duhem challenges the idea that our evidence can conclusively falsify a theory. Given that no scientific theory is tested in isolation, a negative experiment can always be attributed to components other than the theory we test – to the auxiliary hypotheses and background assumptions. How do scientists decide whether the experimental result undermines the theory or points at an error in the underlying assumptions? Duhem argues that we cannot offer a rule that directs when the scientist should employ a radical or conservative strategy in light of a negative result, and ultimately they will appeal to their intuition. More recently philosophers have offered a number of strategies of how to locate error and justify the abandonment of a theory or an auxiliary hypothesis. This Element analyses Duhem's response to holism and subsequent accounts of how the problem can be resolved.

Scientist and Catholic

Scientist and Catholic PDF Author: Stanley L. Jaki
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
The tragic conflict between men of faith and men of science has its origins in a false notion of history: a notion that the Middle Ages stultified scientific exploration and scholarship. French scientist Pierre Duhem dedicated his life to examining this problem. For years, however, his works were inaccessible to English- speaking scholars. Stanley Jaki makes available for the first time a systematic treatment of Duhem's work along with twenty seven selections (in English translation) from his writings. This book is a powerful testimony to the unity of faith and reason.

German Science

German Science PDF Author: Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem
Publisher: Open Court Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
Pierre Duhem (1861-1916) is a major influence in twentieth-century thought, a source for many of the ideas of the Vienna circle, Karl Popper, Imre Lakatos, and Thomas S. Kuhn. Yet Duhem's arguments have often been perceived as enigmatic, quirky, muddled, or even disingenuous, because his influence has been greatest outside his native France many of his works have never been translated, and Duhem's readers have mostly been ignorant of the peculiar French cultural and political background during Duhem's lifetime. German Science (here translated into English for the first time) is a document of importance for understanding Duhem's better-known works. Duhem's Aim and Structure of Physical Theory has been misunderstood because of ignorance of the position set forth in German Science.