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Pierre Duhem
Pierre Duhem was born in 1861, and died in 1916. -
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Pierre Duhem: Philosophy of Science
Pierre Duhem was a French historian, philosopher of science, and a physicist. (1.) He held the belief that thermodynamics are the grounding for physical theory. He defended his position, saying that all mechanics, electricity, and magnetism should be derived from thermodynamic principles. (1.) Another contribution by him, specifically from his philosophical scientific work, he is know for his work regarding the relation between theory and experiment. (1. para. 1) -
Duhem Thesis
Duhems position on physics and metaphysics made members of the Catholic faith uncomfortable, they felt that is position was asserting physics as the only real physics, and that metaphysics are false. When iterared, Duhem stuck to three points. (1) the underdetermination of theory by fact
(2) the rejection of metaphysics and models in physics
(3) natural classification as the endpoint of physical theory. -
Works in Philosophy of Science
Duhem also held the belief that during experimentation, the only thing we have proven or disproved is the predicted phenomenon. Out of those, is at least 1 error. Where that error lies, is something the experiment doesn't tell us.Therefore, in order to get a logical result, one had to change the ground work for the experiment. (1.) His views were not unlike late 19th century positivism. He held that the structure we used to organize facts was no more than an aid to memory. (1.) -
Why Metaphysics and Models?
Duhem was against the use of mechanistic theories, specifically those of Cartiseians and atomists, as they are not autonomous.
What he means by that, is that when physicist make discoveries and are trying to put 'pen-to-paper', to formulate these discoveries and make them able to be quantifiable in a written format, they enter the domain of "cosmology". Basically you have to be able to write it down! When it is written it has become of metaphysical quality, through symbols. -
Pierre Duhem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA7ez9PtRnI&t=87s Click the link to watch short YouTube video that talks more about Pierre Duhem and his considerations for Philosophy of Science. -
Works Cited
- Ariew, Roger. Pierre Duhem, The Standford encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta, https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/duhem/, 2018, Fall 2018, Metaphysics research lab, Standford University
- (What Is Science? Pierre Duhem & Thomas Kuhn), SPEP Performance,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA7ez9PtRnI&t=87s, Nov 12, 2014
