Pierre Duhem Quotes on Nature

Quotes

• Attributed to Pierre Duhem:

  “A physical theory is a system of mathematical propositions whose aim is to represent and classify a group of experimental laws.”

• “Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem, translated by Philip P. Wiener (1991). The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory . Princeton University Press. p. 10. ISBN 069102524X .”

  The first question we should face is: What is the aim of a physical theory? To this question diverse answers have been made, but all of them may be reduced to two main principles: "A physical theory," certain logicians have replied, "has for its object the explanation of a group of laws experimentally established." "A physical theory," other thinkers have said, "is an abstract system whose aim is

• “Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem, translated by Philip P. Wiener (1991). The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory . Princeton University Press. p. 168. ISBN 069102524X .”

  [U]n symbole n'est, à proprement parler, ni vrai, ni faux; il est plus ou moins bien choisi pour signifier la réalité qu'il représente, il la figure d'une manière plus ou moins précise, plus ou moins détaillée...

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

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• “Agreement with experiment is the sole criteria of truth for a physical theory .”

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• “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.”

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• “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.”

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