CFP: Ernst Mach and Pierre Duhem: Science and Philosophy - Special Thematic Issue on RPF

The Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia will publish in July of 2018 a thematic Issue dedicated to the relation between science and philosophy, with a special interest on Ernst Mach and Pierre Duhem.

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 regarding the atomic structure of nature. Regarding society, we have to remember the historical background previous to the I World War and the cultural environment developed in Europe in those years.

In order to discuss and analyze their views regarding science, metaphysics, history of science, methodological aspects of history, the role of scientific popularization, the debates between science and society at the turn of the century, the disputes with their contemporaries and the relations between science and philosophy in the early twentieth century, we organize this special thematic issue with the aim of bringing together international scholars with different scientific and philosophical backgrounds. We want to offer a forum for further requestioning Mach’s and Duhem’s views as well as the early impact of their work in a historical, philosophical and scientific perspective. Our wish is to provide fresh views on the work of both authors one hundred years after their passing.

Authors are invited to submit their papers in the areas of Philosophy of Science, History of Science, Sociology of Science, Epistemology, Physics, Philosophy of Physics and Metaphysics.
The papers should be submitted to María de Paz ([email protected] ; or [email protected]) or to A. A. Passos Videira ([email protected])
The deadline for submissions is November 30th.

For more instructions regarding authors guidelines, please visit this link: http://www.rpf.pt/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9&Itemid=13&lang=en