Uneasy Genius: The Life And Work Of Pierre Duhem

Uneasy Genius: The Life And Work Of Pierre Duhem

Author: St.L. Jaki

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 479

ISBN-13: 9400936230

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A hundred years have now gone by since in the midsummer of 1882 Pierre Duhem, a graduate of College Stanislas, completed with brilliant success his entrance exams to the Ecole Normale Superieure and embarked on his career as a theoretical physicist. His father, a textile salesman, hoped that Hierre would pursue a career in business, one of the few professional fields where perhaps he would not have succeeded. Not that young Duhem lacked sense for the practical. He could have easily made a name for himself as an artist had he developed professionally his skill to draw portraits and landscapes. His ability to make a point and his readiness to join in a debate, could have earned him fame as a lawyer. A potential actor was in sight when he entertained friends with mimicry. That as a student of physics he entered and stayed first in his class at the Ecole Normale, did not thwart his talents for the life sciences. No less a biologist than Pasteur tried to obtain Duhem for assistant. His command of Greek and Latin would have secured him a career as a classicist. He was a Frenchman, not to be met too often, whose rightful ad miration for and mastery of his native tongue, did not prove a barrier to the major modern languages. As one who taught himself the complex art of medieval paleo graphy, he could easily have mastered the many auxiliary sciences needed by a consummate historian.


Commentary on the Principles of Thermodynamics by Pierre Duhem

Commentary on the Principles of Thermodynamics by Pierre Duhem

Author: Paul Needham

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2011-05-30

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 9400703112

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Pierre Duhem (1861–1916) held the chair of theoretical physics at Bordeaux from 1894 to his death. He established a reputation in both the history and philosophy of science as well as in science itself (physics and physical chemistry). Much of his work in the first two areas has been translated into English, but little of his technical scientific work. The present volume contains early work of Duhem’s illustrating his interest in the rigorous development of physical theory for which he is famous. It opens with what was the first critical discussion of Gibbs’ groundbreaking "On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances" (1876-8), where Duhem addressed the problem that, as he put it, "Mathematicians regret that the principles of Thermodynamics should have been developed in general with so little precision that the same proposition can be regarded by some as a consequence, and by others as a negation, of these principles". The other papers, forming a three-part series, pursue this project of putting the foundations of thermodynamics on a clearer and more secure basis. This book will be of interest to scholars in history and philosophy of science, especially those interested in the development of physical chemistry and the work of Pierre Duhem.


Physical Chemistry from Ostwald to Pauling

Physical Chemistry from Ostwald to Pauling

Author: John W. Servos

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2021-05-11

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 1400844185

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John Servos explains the emergence of physical chemistry in America by presenting a series of lively portraits of such pivotal figures as Wilhelm Ostwald, A. A. Noyes, G. N. Lewis, and Linus Pauling, and of key institutions, including MIT, the University of California at Berkeley, and Caltech. In the early twentieth century, physical chemistry was a new hybrid science, the molecular biology of its time. The names of its progenitors were familiar to everyone who was scientifically literate; studies of aqueous solutions and of chemical thermodynamics had transformed scientific knowledge of chemical affinity. By exploring the relationship of the discipline to industry and to other sciences, and by tracing the research of its leading American practitioners, Servos shows how physical chemistry was eclipsed by its own offspring--specialties like quantum chemistry.


Physics Avoidance

Physics Avoidance

Author: Mark Wilson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 446

ISBN-13: 0198803478

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Mark Wilson explores our strategies for understanding the world. We frequently cannot reason about nature in the straightforward manner we anticipate, but must use alternative thought processes that reach useful answers in opaque and roundabout ways; and philosophy must find better descriptive tools to reflect this.


Philosophy of Chemistry

Philosophy of Chemistry

Author: Andrea Woody

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 561

ISBN-13: 0444516751

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Philosophy of Chemistry investigates the foundational concepts and methods of chemistry, the science of the nature of substances and their transformations. This groundbreaking collection, the most thorough treatment of the philosophy of chemistry ever published, brings together philosophers, scientists and historians to map out the central topics in the field. The 33 articles address the history of the philosophy of chemistry and the philosophical importance of some central figures in the history of chemistry; the nature of chemical substances; central chemical concepts and methods, including the chemical bond, the periodic table and reaction mechanisms; and chemistry's relationship to other disciplines such as physics, molecular biology, pharmacy and chemical engineering. This volume serves as a detailed introduction for those new to the field as well as a rich source of new insights and potential research agendas for those already engaged with the philosophy of chemistry. Provides a bridge between philosophy and current scientific findings Encourages multi-disciplinary dialogue Covers theory and applications


Science, Religion, and the Protestant Tradition

Science, Religion, and the Protestant Tradition

Author: James C. Ungureanu

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

Published: 2019-10-03

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13: 0822987112

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The story of the “conflict thesis” between science and religion—the notion of perennial conflict or warfare between the two—is part of our modern self-understanding. As the story goes, John William Draper (1811–1882) and Andrew Dickson White (1832–1918) constructed dramatic narratives in the nineteenth century that cast religion as the relentless enemy of scientific progress. And yet, despite its resilience in popular culture, historians today have largely debunked the conflict thesis. Unravelling its origins, James Ungureanu argues that Draper and White actually hoped their narratives would preserve religious belief. For them, science was ultimately a scapegoat for a much larger and more important argument dating back to the Protestant Reformation, where one theological tradition was pitted against another—a more progressive, liberal, and diffusive Christianity against a more traditional, conservative, and orthodox Christianity. By the mid-nineteenth century, narratives of conflict between “science and religion” were largely deployed between contending theological schools of thought. However, these narratives were later appropriated by secularists, freethinkers, and atheists as weapons against all religion. By revisiting its origins, development, and popularization, Ungureanu ultimately reveals that the “conflict thesis” was just one of the many unintended consequences of the Protestant Reformation.


The Rationality of Theism

The Rationality of Theism

Author: Paul Copan

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2004-07-31

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1134574886

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The Rationality of Theism is a controversial collection of brand new papers by thirteen outstanding philosophers and scholars. Its aim is to offer comprehensive theistic replies to the traditional arguments against the existence of God, offering a positive case for theism as well as rebuttals of recent influential criticisms of theism.


Quantum Theory and the Flight from Realism

Quantum Theory and the Flight from Realism

Author: Christopher Norris

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2002-11-01

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 1134595247

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This book is a critical introduction to the long-standing debate concerning the conceptual foundations of quantum mechanics and the problems it has posed for physicists and philosophers from Einstein to the present. Quantum theory has been a major infulence on postmodernism, and presents significant problems for realists. Keeping his own realist position in check, Christopher Norris subjects a wide range of key opponents and supporters of realism to a high and equal level of scrutiny. With a characteristic combination of rigour and intellectual generosity, he draws out the merits and weaknesses from opposing arguments. In a sequence of closely argued chapters, Norris examines the premises of orthodox quantum theory, as developed most influentially by Bohr and Heisenberg, and its impact on varous philosophical developments. These include the ideas developed by W.V Quine, Thomas Kuhn, Michael Dummett, Bas van Fraassen, and Hilary Puttnam. In each case, Norris argues, these thinkers have been influenced by the orthodox construal of quantum mechanics as requiring drastic revision of principles which had hitherto defined the very nature of scientific method, causal explanati and rational enquiry. Putting the case for a realist approach which adheres to well-tried scientific principles of causal reasoning and inference to the best explanation, Christopher Norris clarifies these debates to a non-specialist readership and scholars of philosophy, science studies and the philosophy of science alike. Quantum Theory and the Flight From Realism suggests that philosophical reflection can contribute to a better understanding of these crucial, current issues.


The Restitution of Man

The Restitution of Man

Author: Michael D. Aeschliman

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13: 9780802844910

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C.S. Lewis and the Case against scientism.