Detailansicht
The Electric Theories of J. Clerk Maxwell
eBook - A Historical and Critical Study, Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science
ISBN/EAN: 9783319185156
Umbreit-Nr.: 9282661
Sprache:
Englisch
Umfang: 0 S., 2.08 MB
Format in cm:
Einband:
Keine Angabe
Erschienen am 01.06.2015
Auflage: 1/2015
E-Book
Format: PDF
DRM: Digitales Wasserzeichen
- Zusatztext
- <p>In this volume Pierre Duhem first gives an overview of 19<sup>th</sup> century electricity and magnetism. Next, he applies his keen historical, philosophical, and physical intuition to critiquing Maxwells theories, especially his electromagnetic theory of light and the<i>ad hoc</i> introduction of displacement current, which he considers too much a product of the <i>esprit de géométrie</i> than the <i>esprit de finesse</i>, as Pascal calls it.</p><p><p>In this book, Duhem is guided by the principle that a theory that offers contradictions, even if the theory is posed by a genius, needs to be analysed and discussed until a clear distinction can be made between the propositions likely to be logically demonstrated and statements that offend logic and which must be transformed or rejected.</p><p><p>Furthermore, Duhem felt, in criticizing such a theory one must guard against narrowness of mind and petty corrections which would make one forget the merit of the inventor; and, more importantly, one must guard against the blind superstition which, for admiration of the author, would hide the serious defects of the work. He is not so great a genius that he surpasses the laws of reason.</p><p><p><p>Pierre Duhem (1861-1916), chairman of theoretical physics at Bordeaux in 1984-1916, is well-known for his works in the history and philosophy of science.</p>
- Autorenportrait
- Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem (b. 1861)an accomplished physicist, philosopher of physics, and historian of physicsranked first in his class at the École Normale Supérieure, Frances most prestigious university, and first on the national physics concours exam for agrégation in 1885. In his third year at the École Normale, he was the first student ever in Frances grandes écoles to present himself for the doctors degree. The thesis, later reprinted as The Thermodynamic Potential and its Applications to Chemical Mechanics and to the Study of Electrical Phenomena, was rejected for political reasons. Undiscouraged, Duhem presented a second thesis, this time in mathematics, but on a similar theme, which the committee including Poincaré and Tannery accepted: On Magnetization by Induction. Duhems grand vision of subjecting all the branches physicsmechanics, chemistry, and even electromagnetismto thermodynamic first-principles continued to permeate all his works until his death in 1916.