Epistemology of a believing historian: Making sense of Duhem's anti-atomism

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 50 (C):71-82 (2015)
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Abstract

Pierre Duhem’s (1861-1916) lifelong opposition to 19th century atomic theories of matter traditionally has been attributed to his conventionalist and/or positivist philosophy of science. Relatively recently, the traditional view has been challenged by the new claim that Duhem’s opposition to atomism was due to the precarious state of atomic theories at the beginning of the 20th century. In this paper, I present some of the difficulties with both the traditional and the new interpretation of Duhem’s opposition to atomism, and provide a new framework in which to understand Duhem's rejection of atomic hypotheses. I argue that although not positivist, instrumentalist, or conventionalist, Duhem’s philosophy of physics was not compatible with belief in unobservable atoms and molecules. The key for understanding Duhem’s resistance to atomism during the final phase of his career is the historicist arguments he presented in support of his ideal of physics.

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Klodian Coko
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Citations of this work

Duhem on Good Sense and Theory Pursuit: From Virtue to Social Epistemology.Jamie Shaw - 2020 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 33 (2):67-85.
Conventionalism about what? Where Duhem and Poincaré part ways.Milena Ivanova - 2015 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 54:80-89.

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References found in this work

Mach and atomism.Stephen G. Brush - 1968 - Synthese 18 (2-3):192 - 215.
Pierre Duhem.Roger Ariew - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Resisting Chemical Atomism: Duhem’s Argument.Paul Needham - 2008 - Philosophy of Science 75 (5):921-931.

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