Was Pierre Duhem an Esprit de finesse?

Víctor Manuel Hernández

doi:10.24117/2526-2270.2017.i2.09

Abstract

Although Pierre Duhem is well known for his conventionalist outlook and, in particular, for his critique of crucial experiments outlined in his thesis on the empirical indeterminacy of theory, he also contributed to the scholarship on the psychological profiles of scientists by revising Pascal’s famous distinction between the subtle mind and the geometric mind (esprits fins and esprits géométriques). For Duhem, the ideal scientist is the one who combines the defining qualities of both types of intellect. As a physicist, Duhem made important theoretical contributions to the field of thermodynamics as well as to the then-nascent physical chemistry. Due to his rejection of atomism and his unrelenting critique of Maxwell’s electrodynamics, however, in his later years, Duhem’s work was surpassed and abandoned by the dominant tendencies of physics of the time. In this essay, I will discuss whether Duhem himself can be understood through the lens of his own account of the scientist’s psychological profile. More specifically, I examine whether the subtle mind – to which he seems to assign greater cognitive value – in fact plays a key role in Duhem’s critique of the English School (école anglaise), or if his preference for the axiomatic structure of theoretical physics shows a greater affinity with the geometric mind.

Highlights

Perhaps the most overlooked, among Pierre Duhem’s diverse contributions to the understanding of the sciences, is his study of the psychological dimensions of scientific practice based on his approach to the Pascalian distinction between the subtle mind and the geometric mind
Taking the latter interpretation allows us to deal with the inconsistencies that stand out when we closely examine the way in which Duhem reworks that distinction to discuss the scientific contributions of what he calls l’école anglaise (English School) in contrast to his argument about the German and French way to build the physical theory in his late “war writings.”
The English Scientific Practice of the Nineteenth Century. In his early analysis of English science, Duhem does not employ the famous Pascalian distinction between the subtle and geometric minds; he does hold that its defining qualities – those that set the English apart from the French and German scientists – help us identify the fundamental character of the English mentality

Summary

Introduction

Among Pierre Duhem’s diverse contributions to the understanding of the sciences, is his study of the psychological dimensions of scientific practice based on his approach to the Pascalian distinction between the subtle mind and the geometric mind (esprit de finesse and esprit de géométrie). Problems to determine whether we are deal with a sharp and fundamental distinction, or whether Duhem makes informal use of it in order to support his view about the value of theoretical physics as abstract theory. Taking the latter interpretation allows us to deal with the inconsistencies that stand out when we closely examine the way in which Duhem reworks that distinction to discuss the scientific contributions of what he calls l’école anglaise (English School) in contrast to his argument about the German and French way to build the physical theory in his late “war writings.”. I hope that this essay sheds light on other aspects of Duhem’s thought that may be worth revising

Modes of Thought

The New Apollonians and Dionysians

The English Scientific Practice of the Nineteenth Century

The Philosophical Dimension of Abstract Theory

Closing Remarks