Pierre Duhem Quotes on Truth
Pierre Duhem was a French theoretical physicist, philosopher of science, and historian of medieval science. This page collects quotes attributed to Pierre Duhem on the topic of truth, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Pierre Duhem:
“An experiment in physics can never condemn an isolated hypothesis but only a whole theoretical group.”
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Attributed to Pierre Duhem:
“Truth in science is gradual and never final.”
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Attributed to Pierre Duhem:
“The history of physics shows that no theory survives unchanged.”
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“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.”
[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... -
“Agreement with experiment is the sole criteria of truth for a physical theory .”
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