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Quick facts for kids Pierre Duhem

Born	Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem (1861-06-09)9 June 1861 Paris, France
Died	14 September 1916(1916-09-14) (aged 55) Cabrespine, France
Education	École Normale Supérieure (diploma, 1882)

Era	19th-century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Continental philosophy French historical epistemology Conventionalism
Main interests	Thermodynamics, philosophy of science, history of science
Notable ideas	Clausius–Duhem inequality Gibbs–Duhem equation Duhem–Margules equation Duhem–Quine thesis Confirmation holism Thermodynamic potential
Influences William Rankine, Willard Gibbs, Ernst Mach, Blaise Pascal
Influenced Émile Jouguet, John Worrall, Thomas Kuhn, Stanley Jaki, Stephen Menn

Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem (French: [pjɛʁ mɔʁis maʁi dy.ɛm, - moʁ-] ; 9 June 1861 – 14 September 1916) was a French theoretical physicist who worked on thermodynamics, hydrodynamics, and the theory of elasticity. Duhem was also a historian of science, noted for his work on the European Middle Ages, which is regarded as having created the field of the history of medieval science. As a philosopher of science, he is remembered principally for his views on the indeterminacy of experimental criteria (see Duhem–Quine thesis).

Theoretical physics
History of science
Philosophy of science
- Opposition to the English inductivist tradition
- Duhem's philosophy of science and faith
Works
- Works in English translation
See also

Theoretical physics

Among scientists, Duhem is best known today for his work on chemical thermodynamics, and in particular for the Gibbs–Duhem and Duhem–Margules equations. His approach was strongly influenced by the early works of Josiah Willard Gibbs, which Duhem effectively explicated and promoted among French scientists. In continuum mechanics, he is also remembered for his contribution to what is now called the Clausius–Duhem inequality.

Duhem was convinced that all physical phenomena, including mechanics, electromagnetism, and chemistry, could be derived from the principles of thermodynamics. Influenced by Macquorn Rankine's "Outlines of the Science of Energetics", Duhem carried out this intellectual project in his Traité de l'Énergétique (1911), but was ultimately unable to reduce electromagnetic phenomena to thermodynamic first principles.

With Ernst Mach, Duhem shared a skepticism about the reality and usefulness of the concept of atoms. He therefore did not follow the statistical mechanics of Maxwell, Boltzmann, and Gibbs, who explained the laws of thermodynamics in terms of the statistical properties of mechanical systems composed of many atoms.

Duhem was an opponent of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. In 1914, Duhem commented that Einstein's relativity theory "has turned physics into a real chaos where logic loses its way and common-sense runs away frightened". In his 1915 book La Science Allemande, he argued strongly against relativity. Duhem stated that the theory of relativity "overthrow[s] all the doctrines in which one has spoken of space, of time, of movement, all the theories of mechanics and of physics".

History of science

Nicole Oresme, a prominent medieval scholar. Duhem came to regard the medieval scholastic tradition as the origin of modern science.

Duhem is well known for his work on the history of science, which resulted in the ten volume Le système du monde: histoire des doctrines cosmologiques de Platon à Copernic (The System of World: A History of Cosmological Doctrines from Plato to Copernicus). Unlike many former historians (e.g. Voltaire and Condorcet), who denigrated the Middle Ages, he endeavored to show that the Roman Catholic Church had helped foster Western science in one of its most fruitful periods. His work in this field was originally prompted by his research into the origins of statics, where he encountered the works of medieval mathematicians and philosophers such as John Buridan, Nicole Oresme and Roger Bacon, whose sophistication surprised him. He consequently came to regard them as the founders of modern science, having in his view anticipated many of the discoveries of Galileo Galilei and later thinkers. Duhem concluded that "the mechanics and physics of which modern times are justifiably proud to proceed, by an uninterrupted series of scarcely perceptible improvements, from doctrines professed in the heart of the medieval schools."

Duhem popularized the concept of "saving the phenomena."

Philosophy of science

In philosophy of science, Duhem is best known for arguing that hypotheses are not straightforwardly refuted by experiment and that there are no crucial experiments in science. Duhem’s formulation of his thesis is that “if the predicted phenomenon is not produced, not only is the questioned proposition put into doubt, but also the whole theoretical scaffolding used by the physicist”. Duhem's views on the philosophy of science are explicated in his 1906 work The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory. In this work, he opposed Newton's statement that the Principia's law of universal mutual gravitation was deduced from 'phenomena', including Kepler's second and third laws. Newton's claims in this regard had already been attacked by critical proof-analyses of the German logician Leibniz and then most famously by Immanuel Kant, following Hume's logical critique of induction. But the novelty of Duhem's work was his proposal that Newton's theory of universal mutual gravity flatly contradicted Kepler's Laws of planetary motion because the interplanetary mutual gravitational perturbations caused deviations from Keplerian orbits. Since no contingent proposition can be validly logically deduced from any it contradicts, according to Duhem, Newton must not have logically deduced his law of gravitation directly from Kepler's Laws.

Opposition to the English inductivist tradition

Duhem argues that physics is subject to certain methodological limitations that do not affect other sciences. In his The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory (1906), Duhem critiqued the Baconian notion of "crucial experiments". According to this critique, an experiment in physics is not simply an observation, but rather an interpretation of observations by means of a theoretical framework. Furthermore, no matter how well one constructs one's experiment, it is impossible to subject an isolated single hypothesis to an experimental test. Instead, it is a whole interlocking group of hypotheses, background assumptions, and theories that is tested. This thesis has come to be known as confirmation holism. This inevitable holism, according to Duhem, renders crucial experiments impossible. More generally, Duhem was critical of Newton's description of the method of physics as a straightforward "deduction" from facts and observations.

Duhem's philosophy of science and faith

In the appendix to The Aim and Structure, entitled "Physics of a Believer," Duhem draws out the implications that he sees his philosophy of science as having for those who argue that there is a conflict between physics and religion. He writes, "metaphysical and religious doctrines are judgments touching on objective reality, whereas the principles of physical theory are propositions relative to certain mathematical signs stripped of all objective existence. Since they do not have any common term, these two sorts of judgments can neither contradict nor agree with each other" (p. 285). Nonetheless, Duhem argues that it is important for the theologian or metaphysician to have detailed knowledge of physical theory in order not to make illegitimate use of it in speculations. Duhem's philosophy of science was criticized by one of his contemporaries, Abel Rey, in part because of what Rey perceived as influence on the part of Duhem's Catholic faith. Although Duhem was indeed a believer, a sincere and fervent Catholic, he was eager to point out that his works in physics and chemistry should be considered on their own merits, independent of his religion. They were not examples of "Catholic science," nor even colored by his Catholic faith.

Works

Books

(1886). Le Potentiel Thermodynamique et ses Applications à la Mécanique Chimique et à l'Étude des Phénomènes Électriques. Paris: A. Hermann.
(1888). De l'Aimantation par Influence. Suivi de Propositions Données par la Faculté. Paris, Gauthier-Villars et Fils.
(1891). Cours de Physique Mathématique et de Cristallographie de la Faculté des Sciences de Lille. Paris: A. Hermann.
(1891–1892). Leçons sur l'Électricité et le Magnétisme. Paris: Gauthier-Villars et Fils, tome I (English EPUB), tome II (English EPUB), tome III (English EPUB).
(1893). Introduction à la Mécanique Chimique. Paris: G. Carré.
(1894). Sur les Déformations Permanentes et l'Hysteresis. Bruxelles: Impr. de Hayez.
(1895). Les Théories de la Chaleur.
(1896). Théorie Thermodynamique de la Viscosité, du Frottement et des faux Équilibres Chimiques. Paris: A. Hermann.
(1897–1898). Traité Élémentaire de Mécanique Chimique Fondée sur la Thermodynamique. Paris: A. Hermann.
- (1897). Les Mélanges Doubles: Statique Chimique Générale des Systèmes Hétérogènes.
- (1898). Faux Équilibres et Explosions.
(1902). Le Mixte et la Combinaison Chimique. Essai sur l'Évolution d'une Idée. Paris: C. Naud.
(1902). Les Théories Électriques de J. Clerk Maxwell: Étude Historique et Critique. Paris: A. Hermann.
(1902). Thermodynamique et Chimie: Leçons Élémentaires à l'Usage des Chimistes. Paris: A. Hermann.
(1903). Recherches sur l'Hydrodynamique. Paris: Gauthier-Villars.
(1903). Les Origines de la Statique. Paris: A. Herman, tome I, tome II.
(1905). L'Évolution de la Mécanique. Paris, A. Hermann.
(1906). La Théorie Physique. Son Objet, sa Structure. Paris: Chevalier & Riviére (Vrin, 2007).
(1906). Recherches sur l'Élasticité. Paris: Gauthier-Villars.
(1903–13). Études sur Léonard de Vinci, ceux qu'il a lus, ceux qui l'ont lu, 3 vol., Paris: A. Hermann.
- Première série : Ceux qu'il a lu et ceux qui l'ont lu, 1906.
- Deuxième série.
- Troisième série : Les précurseurs parisiens de Galilée, 1913.
(1908). Josiah-Willard Gibbs, à propos de la Publication de ses Mémoires Scientifiques. Paris: A. Hermann.
(1908). Sauver les Phénomènes. Essai sur la Notion de Théorie Physique de Platon à Galilée. Paris: A. Hermann (Vrin, 2005).
(1909). Le Mouvement Absolu et le Mouvement Relatif. Paris: Impr. Librairie de Montligeon. English EPUB
(1911). Traité d'Énergétique. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, tome I (English EPUB), tome II (English EPUB).
(1913–1959). Le Système du Monde. Histoire des Doctrines Cosmologiques de Platon à Copernic: tome I, tome II, tome III, tome IV, tome V, tome VI, tome VII, tome VIII, tome IX, tome X.
(1915) La Science Allemande. Paris: A. Hermann.

Articles

(1908). "La Valeur de la Théorie Physique," Journal de Mathémathiques Pures et Appliquées, Vol. XIX, pp. 7–19.
(1908). "Ce que l'on Disait des Indes Occidentales avant Christophe Colomb," Journal de Mathémathiques Pures et Appliquées, Vol. XIX, pp. 402–406.
(1909). "Note: Thierry de Chartres et Nicholas de Cues," Revues des Sciences Philosophiques et Théologiques, Troisième Année, pp. 525–531.
(1911). "Sur les Petites Oscillations d'un Corps Flottant," Journal de Mathémathiques Pures et Appliquées, Vol. VII, Sixiéme Série, pp. 1–84.
(1911). "Le Temps selon les Philosophes Hellénes," Part II, Revue de Philosophie, Vol. XIX, pp. 5–24, 128–145.
(1914). "Roger Bacon et l'Horreur du Vide," in A.G. Little (ed.), Roger Bacon Essays. Oxford, at the Clarendon Press.
(1915). "Quelques Réflexions sur la Science Allemande," Revue des Deux Mondes, Vol. XXV, pp. 657–686.
(1916). "L'Optique de Malebranche," Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, Vol. XXIII, No. 1, pp. 37–91.

Duhem's mathematics papers from NUMDAM

Works in English translation

Duhem, Pierre (1903). Thermodynamics and Chemistry. A Non-mathematical Treatise for Chemists and Students of Chemistry. (1st ed.). New York; London: J. Wiley & Sons; Chapman & Hall. OCLC 3383130. https://archive.org/details/cu31924001081490.
Duhem, Pierre (1991b). The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory (2nd ed.). Princeton: Princeton University Press. Excerpts: excerpt 1, & excerpt 2 "Heavenly bodies: Theory, physics and philosophy"
"Physical Theory and Experiment," in Herbert Feigl & May Brodbeck (ed.), Readings in the Philosophy of Science. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1953, pp. 235–252.
Duhem, Pierre (1969). To Save the Phenomena, an Essay on the Idea of Physical Theory from Plato to Galileo. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. OCLC 681213472. https://archive.org/details/tosavephenomenae0000duhe. (excerpt)
Duhem, Pierre (1985). Medieval Cosmology: Theories of Infinity, Place, Time, Void, and the Plurality of Worlds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-16922-4. OCLC 712044683. (excerpt: "The 12th century birth of the notion of mass which advised modern mechanics ... and void and movement in the void")
Duhem, Pierre (1988). The Physicist as Artist: The Landscapes of Pierre Duhem. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press. ISBN: 0707305349
Duhem, Pierre (1990). "Logical Examination of Physical Theory," Synthese, Vol. 83, No. 2, pp. 183–188.
Duhem, Pierre (1990). "Research on the History of Physical Theories," Synthese, Vol. 83, No. 2, pp. 189–200.
Duhem, Pierre (1991). German Science. La Salle, Ill.: Open Court. ISBN: 0812691245
Duhem, Pierre (1991c). The Origins of Statics The Sources of Physical Theory. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. 123. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. doi:10.1007/978-94-011-3730-0. ISBN 9789401137300.
Duhem, Pierre (1996). Essays in the History and Philosophy of Science. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Co.. ISBN 978-0-87220-308-2. OCLC 33968944.
Duhem, Pierre (2011). Commentary on the Principles of Thermodynamics by Pierre Duhem. Dordrecht; New York: Springer. ISBN 978-94-007-0311-7. OCLC 733543752. http://www.springerlink.com/content/978-94-007-0310-0/contents/.
Duhem, Pierre Maurice Marie (2015). The Electric Theories of J. Clerk Maxwell. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science. 314. Alan Aversa (trans.). Cham: Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-18515-6. ISBN 978-3-319-18515-6. https://isidore.co/calibre/browse/book/4976.
Duhem, Pierre Maurice Marie (2018-06-29). Galileo's Precursors: Translation of Studies on Leonardo da Vinci (vol. 3). Alan Aversa (trans.). doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.23235.71201/1. https://isidore.co/calibre/get/PDF/6854.
Duhem, Pierre Maurice Marie (2018-09-09). Ampère's Force Law: A Modern Introduction. Alan Aversa (trans.). doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.31100.03206/1. https://isidore.co/calibre/get/PDF/6855. (EPUB)

Articles

"Physics & Metaphysics" (1893)
"Physics of a Believer"

Articles contributed to the 1912 Catholic Encyclopedia

History of Physics
Pierre de Maricourt
Jordanus de Nemore
Nicole Oresme
Albert of Saxony
Thierry of Freburg
Jean de Sax

The above bibliography is not exhaustive. See his complete primary sources and secondary sources at the Duhem entry of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.