Volume 92, Issue 1, Winter 2018
Meghan D. Page
Pages 145-157
DOI: 10.5840/acpq2018116143
Sense and Reference of a Believer
Pierre Duhem’s philosophy of science was criticized by several
of his contemporaries for being surreptitiously influenced by his
Catholic faith. In his essay “Physics of a Believer,” Duhem defends
himself against this appraisal. In this paper, I detail Duhem’s argument
and reconstruct his view concerning the relationship between
theoretical science and religious belief. Ultimately, Duhem claims that
the propositions of physical theory cannot contradict the propositions
of religious belief because they do not share a domain of reference. To
clarify why Duhem holds this view, I present a case study: the discovery
of entropy. By examining how the term “entropy” was introduced into
thermo-dynamic theory, a story with which Duhem was intimately familiar,
much of the apparent conflict in Duhem’s philosophy of science is
resolved.