Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wzw2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-26T12:46:02.753Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Duhem on Maxwell: A Case-Study in the Interrelations of History of Science and Philosophy of Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2023

Roger Ariew  and
Peter Barker
Roger Ariew
Affiliation:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Peter Barker
Affiliation:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Since the revival of historicist philosophy of science in the 1960s many philosophers have acknowledged a debt to Duhem. But Duhem’s opinions are imperfectly understood and, as McMullin has shown in his (1970) and (1979), there are many strands in the current revival of historicism. We consider here Duhem’s views on the role of history in the appraisal of scientific theories. However, there is no single text offering Duhem’s views on the subject; rather, they are revealed during their application to various historical and contemporary cases. Duhem’s most sustained examination of a contemporary case is his critique of Maxwell’s science and scientific methodology.

Duhem’s critique of Maxwell is not a set of isolated or incidental dicta, but the expression of Duhem’s mature thought over the last quarter-century of his life, ranging from (at least) 1893 to his death in 1916.

Type
Part II. History and Philosophy of Science
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1986 , Issue 1: Volume One: Contributed Papers 1986 , 1986 , pp. 145 - 156
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brouzeng, P. (1978). “Magnétisme et énérgetique.. La méthode de Duhem. A propos d’une lettre inédite de Pierre Curie.” Revue d’histoire des sciences 31: 333–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchwald, J.Z. (1985). From Maxwell to Microphysics. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Duhem, P. (1893). “L’école anglaise et les théories physiques, à propos d’un livre de W. Thompson.” Revue des questions scientifiques 34: 345–378.Google Scholar
Duhem, P. (1900-01). “Les théories électriques de J. Clerk Maxwell: étude historique et critique.” Annales de la Societe scientifique de Bruxelles 24: 239–253; 25: 1-90, 293-417.Google Scholar
Duhem, P. (1902). Les théories électriques de J. Clerk Maxwell: Etude historique et critique. Paris: Hermann. (Previously published as Duhem (1900-01).)Google Scholar
Duhem, P. (1904-05). “La théorie physique, son objet et sa structure.” Revue de Philosophie 4: 387–402, 542-556, 643-671; 5: 121-160, 241-263, 536-569, 635-662, 712-737; 6: 25-43, 267-292, 377-399, 519-559, 619-641.Google Scholar
Duhem, P. (1905). “Physique de croyant.” Annales de philosophie Chrétienne 151: 44–67, 133-159.Google Scholar
Duhem, P. (1905-06). Les origines de la statique. Paris: Hermann.Google Scholar
Duhem, P. (1906). La Théorie Physique son objet et sa structure. Paris: Riviére. (Previously published as Duhem (1904-05).)Google Scholar
Duhem, P. (1914). La Théorie Physique son obiet et sa structure. 2nd revised edition. Paris: Riviere.Google Scholar
Duhem, P. (1915). La science allemande. Paris: Hermann.Google Scholar
Duhem, P. (1917). “Notice sur les titres et travaux scientifiques de Pierre Duhem.” Mémoires de la Société des Sciences physiques et naturelles de Bordeaux series 7, 1: 40–169.Google Scholar
Duhem, P. (1919). “De Maxwell et de la maniére allemande de l’exposer.” Revue du Mois 20: 113–131.Google Scholar
Duhem, P. (1954a). The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory. Princeton: Princeton University Press. (Translation of (1914) by P. Wiener.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duhem, P. (1954b). “Physics of a Believer.” (Translation of Duhem (1905) by P. Wiener as an appendix of Duhem (1954a). Pages 273-311.)Google Scholar
Hempel, C. (1965). Aspects of Scientific Explanation. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Hertz, P. (1890). Untersuchngen über die Ausbreitung der elektrischen Kraft. Einleitende Uebersicht. Wiedemann’s Annalen Bd. XL.Google Scholar
Jaki, S. (1984). Uneasy Genius; The Life and Work of Pierre Duhem. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.Google Scholar
Kuhn, T. (1970). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 2nd ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Lakatos, I. (1978). The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laudan, L. (1977). Progress and Its Problems. Berkeley: The University of California Press.Google Scholar
Maxwell, J.C. (1855-56). “On Faraday’s Lines of Force.” In Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pages 155–229.Google Scholar
Maxwell, J.C. (1861-62). “On Physical Lines of Force.” In Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pages 451-513.Google Scholar
McMullin, E. (1970). “The History and Philosophy of Science: A Taxonomy.”; In Historical and Philosophical Perspectives of Science. (Minnesota Studies In the Philosophy of Science , Volume 5. ) Edited by R.H. Stuewer. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Pages 12–67.Google Scholar
McMullin, E. (1979). “The Ambiguity of Historicism.” In Current Research in Philosophy of Science. Edited by P.D. Asquith and H.E. Kyburg, Jr. East Lansing, Michigan: Philosophy of Science Association. Pages 55-83.Google Scholar
O’Rahilly, A. (1938). Electromagnetic Theory. London: Longmans, Green and Co.Google Scholar
Poincaré, H. (1892). Electricité et Optioue, Volume I. Les théories de Maxwell et la théorie eléctromagnétique de la lumiére. Paris: G. Carre.Google Scholar
Roy, L (1923a). l’électrodynamique des milieux isotropes en repos d’aprés Helmholtz et Duhem. Paris: Gauthier-Villars.Google Scholar
Roy, L (1923b). “Sur l’éctrodynamique des milieux en mouvement.” Annales de la Faculté des Sciences de Toulouse series 3, 15: 199–240.Google Scholar
Thomson, J.J (1885). “Report on Electrical Theories.” British Association for the Advancement of Science Reports 55: 97–155.Google Scholar
Wise, M.N. (1982). “The Maxwell Literature and British Dynamical Theory.” Historical Studies In the Physical Sciences 13: 175–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar