Pierre Duhem was a French Catholic intellectual of the late 19th century who — perhaps singularly — stood at the intersection of physics, the history of science and the philosophy of science. Although Duhem’s _The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory_ is now considered a seminal text for the History and Philosophy of Science, and his “holism” thesis is widely known, few commentators have appreciated the evident action-theoretic aspects of Duhem’s treatise, or his relationship with theologians working on action theory such as Maurice Blondel. In this talk, I will argue for a neo-Aristotelian reading of Duhem’s text by drawing on Elizabeth Anscombe’s work on practical rationality, as well as that of subsequent commentators on the Anscombean tradition such as Michael Thompson and Sebastian Roedl. On this reading, it will emerge that a scientific theory is just a special kind of practical thought, and that Duhem’s “holism” is a manifestation of a more general indeterminacy inherent in practical thought. The reading will also be fruitful in clarifying Duhem’s conception of the relationship between the history of science and the philosophy of science.
