MACROSCOPIC OBJECTS - AN EXERCISE IN DUHEMIAN ONTOLOGY

Aristotelian ideas are presented in a favorable light in Duhem's histo rical works surveying the history of the notion of chemical combinatio n (1902) and the development of mechanics (1903). The importance Duhem was later to ascribe to Aristotelian ideas as reflected in the weight he attached to medieval science is well known. But the Aristotelian i nfluence on his own mature philosophical perspective, and more particu larly on his concern for logical coherence and the development of his ontological views, is not generally acknowledged. There are, however, clear pointers in this direction in these two earlier books on the his tory of science, which are unashamedly written in such a way as to pro ject the author's own view of what is important in the relevant areas. Thermodynamics was the pinnacle of Duhemian science, and its interpre tation requires the reinstatement, in Duhem's view, of Aristotelian co nceptions which have been unfashionable since the rise of certain idea s with the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. The prese nt paper is not primarily an exposition of these Aristotelian views of Duhem's, but an attempt to pursue the interpretation of a macroscopic , thermodynamical perspective on chemical substances from an elementar y viewpoint in the spirit of Duhem (1902), sometimes being more defini te than Duhem seems to be, and occasionally taking issue with him on c ertain points. Some of his leading ideas will determine the general ap proach, but views and problems will also be taken from modern textbook s in an attempt to lay down the general lines along which an explicit ontology-in Quine's sense-of macroscopic theory might be developed.