Pierre Duhem quotes

Pierre Duhem was a French physicist, mathematician, and philosopher of science, known for his influential work in thermodynamics and the philosophy of science. His research explored the relationship between physical theory and experimentation, and he is celebrated for the Duhem–Quine thesis. He made significant contributions to both the history and philosophy of science, influencing future generations of scholars. Here are 8 of his quotes:

There you have, then, a theoretical physics which is neither the theory of a believer nor that of a nonbeliever, but merely and simply a theory of a physicist; admirably suited to classify the laws studied by the experimenter, it is incapable of opposing any assertion whatever of metaphysics or of religious dogma, and is equally incapable of lending effective support to any such assertion.

Pierre Duhem

The one who contributed most to break down the barrier between physical method and metaphysical method, and to confound their domains, so clearly distinguished in the Aristotelian philosophy, was surely Descartes.

Pierre Duhem

Every time people cite a principle of theoretical physics in support of a metaphysical doctrine or physical dogma, they commit a mistake, for they attribute to this principle a meaning not its own, an import not belonging to it.

Pierre Duhem

A physical theory reputed to be satisfactory by the sectarians of one metaphysical school will be rejected by the partisans of another school.

Pierre Duhem

Now, a symbol is not, properly speaking, either true or false; it is, rather, something more or less well selected to stand for the reality it represents, and pictures that reality in a more or less precise, or a more or less detailed manner.

Pierre Duhem

Logic can be patient because it is eternal.

Pierre Duhem

« La Logique peut être patiente, car elle est éternelle. » ("Logic can be patient because it is eternal.") ibid. p. 150.

Pierre Duhem