Pierre Duhem: Philosophy and History in the Work of a Believing Physicist

Dr Martin's study of Pierre Duhem's work refutes many prevailing legends about Duhem. His book pays particular attention to the political and intellectual context of French Catholicism, wracked as it was by the tensions of the Dreyfus affair and the so-called modernist crisis. Duhem took his inspiration, not from the Papally-sponsored revival of the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, but from Pascal, a fact that aroused suspicions of skepticism in the minds of conservatively-minded Catholics. The tensions between Duhem's work and authoritarian Catholic positions became more explicit at his historical work unfolded.