A study on the philosophy of history and on the historiography of science of Pierre Duhem

Author(s)

Fábio Rodrigo Leite

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2012-04-16

Examining board members

Osvaldo Frota Pessoa Junior; Paulo Cesar Coelho Abrantes; Jose Raimundo Novaes Chiappin; Caetano Ernesto Plastino; Oswaldo Melo Souza Filho

• Advisor: Osvaldo Frota Pessoa Junior

Abstract

The present Thesis encompasses an analysis of three closely related components of Pierre Duhems thought, namely, the historiography of science, the philosophy of history and the historical method. In the first part, we examine the essential relationships established between the Duhemian historical method and his philosophy of history. In the second part, our attention turns to the study of some aspects of Duhems historiography that have been neglected by the secondary literature, particularly, the Duhemian conception of scientific revolutions. We believe that it is possible to compose a synthetic interpretation that harmonizes, without inconsistencies, on the one hand, the assertions of the French historian that led the commentators to see him as a strict continuist and, on the other hand, some other forgotten passages that tend to reinforce a discontinuist interpretation. (AU)