Pierre Duhem e Ernst Mach: ciência e filosofia

Ernst Mach (1838-1916) and Pierre Duhem (1861-1916) were leading scientists, philosophers and historians of science of their times. They lived and worked in a context marked by deep changes in the natural sciences, and in an epoch of intense social transformations. Regarding the sciences, we could just mention the development of electromagnetic theory, the decline of classical mechanics, the development of evolutionary theory, the emergence of the special and general theories of relativity or the controversy on the atomic structure of nature. Concerning society, we have to remember the historical background previous to the World War I and the cultural environment developed in Europe in those years. As to the relationship between science and society, the end of the nineteenth century witnessed the emergence of a radical critique of science, which questioned its fundamental values. In a way, we can understand the philosophies of these two figures as replies to such criticisms. The main purpose of this thematic issue was to offer a forum for further re-questioning Mach’s and Duhem’s views and the impact that their work can still have nowadays. Our wish was to provide fresh views on the work of both authors, one hundred years after their passing. We think that the papers below have very well accomplished this aim.