Pierre Duhem (1861–1916)

Abstract

Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem was born in Paris on 9 June, 1861, into a deeply Catholic family with a strong allegiance to the monarchy whose conservative views Duhem was to uphold throughout the conflicts with the new Republic. Pierre Duhem is known to philosophers as a physicist who made distinguished contributions to the philosophy of science and to the history of science. His La thèorie physique (1906) remains a classic in the philosophy of science and the monumental ten-volume Le syst`eme du monde (1913–1959) is the crowning jewel of an extensive project which brought historians to recognize the contributions of medieval thinkers to the critical development of Greek science and their role as forerunners of the Copernican revolution. Duhem's professional interests in chemistry are distinguished from his several other interests and related to his general concerns with the development of thermodynamics. His account of chemical formulas is described in sufficient detail to convey why he thought no atomist presuppositions were involved, and some of his reasons for questioning atomism are discussed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of his understanding of the bearing of ancient alternatives to atomism on the interpretation of the science of his time.