The Emergence of a Sophisticated Historiography of Science in Continental Europe in the Late Nineteenth Century

Abstract

This chapter investigates the histories of sciences put forward in the second half of the nineteenth century on the European continent and the historiographical frameworks that shaped those histories. The authors were mainly scientists and mathematicians with marked historical interests and sometimes with a good philosophical background. More specifically, the chapter focuses on German-speaking and French-speaking scientists-historians and mathematicians-historians. Deep scientific, technological, and social transformations took place in the last decades of the century, together with a process of professionalization and specialization of scientific practices. These scientists undertook meta-theoretical research on the explicit and implicit foundations of sciences, on the development of scientific theories and practices over time, and on aims and methods of sciences. The awareness of the complexity of scientific traditions can be found both in French research from Cournot to Duhem and in German research from Cantor to Mach. The existence of this cultural environment allows us to understand that Mach and Duhem cannot be looked upon as isolated forerunners. They represented the starting point of the subsequent professionalization of meta-theoretical research on science and at the same time the most meaningful outcome of historical research that spread through Europe from the mid-nineteenth century.