Abstract
The sole purpose of physical theory is to provide a representation and classification of experimental laws; the only test permitting us to judge a physical theory and pronounce it good or bad is the comparison between the consequences of this theory and the experimental laws it has to represent and classify. Now that we have minutely analyzed the characteristics of a physical experiment and of a physical law, we can establish the principles that should govern the comparison between experiment and theory; we can tell how we shall recognize whether a theory is confirmed or weakened by facts.
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Notes
Claude Bernard, Introduction à la Médecine expériment ale, Paris, 1865, p. 63. (Translator’s note: Translated into English by H. C. Greene, An Introduction to Experimental Medicine, Henry Schuman, New York, 1949.)
Claude Bernard, Introduction à la Médecine expériment ale, Paris, 1865, p. 64.
Ibid., p. 70.
Ibid., p. 67.
Wilhelm Weber, Electrodynamische Maassbestimmungen, Leipzig, 1846. Translated into French in Collection de Mémoires relatifs à la Physique (Société française de Physique), Vol. in: Memoires sur l’Electrodynamique.
H. Poincare, Science et Hypothése, p. 179.
G. Robin, Oeuvres scientifiques, Thermodynamique générate, Paris, 1901, Introduction, p. xii.
Note on a lecture of M. Joubert, inspector-general of secondary-school instruction, L’Enseignement secondaire, April 15, 1903.
G. Robin, op. cit., p. ii.
J. Bertrand, Leçons sur la Theorie mathimatique de VElectricite, Paris, 1890, p. 71.
G. Milhaud, ‘La Science rationnelle’, Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, IV, 1896, p. 280. Reprinted in Le Rationnel, Paris, 1898, p. 45.
H. Poincaré, ‘Sur les Principes de la Mécanique’, Bibliothèque du Congrès International de Philosophie, III: Logique et Histoire des Sciences, Paris, 1901, p. 457; ‘Sur la Valeur objective des Théories physiques’, Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, X, 1902, p. 263; La Science et l’Hypothèse, p. 110.
H. Poincaré, ‘Sur les Principes de la Mécanique’, Bibliothèque du Congrès International de Philosophie, III: Logique et Histoire des Sciences, Paris, 1901, p. 457; ‘Sur la Valeur objective des Théories physiques’, Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, X, 1902, p. 263; La Science et l’Hypothèse, p. 110.
H. Poincaré, ‘Sur les Principes de la Mécanique’, Bibliothèque du Congrès International de Philosophie, III: Logique et Histoire des Sciences, Paris, 1901, p. 457; ‘Sur la Valeur objective des Théories physiques’, Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, X, 1902, p. 263; La Science et l’Hypothèse, p. 110.
E. Le Roy, ‘Un Positivisme Nouveau’, Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, IX, 1901, pp. 143–144.
H. Poincaré, ‘Sur les Principes de la Mécanique’, Bibliothèque du Congrès international de Philosophie, Sec. III: ‘Logique et Histoire des Sciences’, Paris, 1901, pp. 475, 491.
Ibid., pp. 472ff.
P. Duhem, Le Mixte et la Combinaison chimique: Essai sur l’évolution d’une idée, Paris, 1902, pp. 159–161.
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© 1976 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
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Duhem, P. (1976). Physical Theory and Experiment. In: Harding, S.G. (eds) Can Theories be Refuted?. Synthese Library, vol 81. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1863-0_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1863-0_1
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