Alexandre Koyré
Encyclopedia
Alexandre Koyré sometimes anglicised as Alexander Koiré, was a French
philosopher of Russia
n origin who wrote on the history
and philosophy of science
.
, Russia
, into a Jewish family. In Russia he studied in Tiflis, Rostov on Don and Odessa, before pursuing studies abroad.
In Göttingen
, Germany
(1908–11), he studied under Edmund Husserl
and David Hilbert
. Husserl did not approve of Koyré's dissertation, whereupon Koyré left for Paris
, to study from 1912, notably under Henri Bergson
and Léon Brunschvicg. Following Husserl's Cartesian Meditations
, a series of lectures given in Paris and one of the more important of Husserl's later works, Koyré met again with Husserl repeatedly and influenced his understanding of Galileo Galilei
.
In 1914 Koyré joined the French Foreign Legion
as soon as the war broke out. In 1916 he volunteered for a Russian regiment fighting on the Russian front, following a cooperation agreement between the French and Russian governments.
From 1922 Koyré taught in Paris at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes
(EPHE), and became a colleague of Alexandre Kojève
, who eventually replaced him as lecturer on Hegel. In 1932 the EPHE created a Department of History of Religious Thought in Modern Europe for him to chair. During the years 1932–34, 1936–38, and 1940–41, Koyré taught in Fuad University (later Cairo University) where, along with André Lalande and others, he introduced the study of modern philosophy to Egyptian academia. His most important student in Cairo was Abd al-Rahman al-Badawi (1917–2002) who is considered the first systematic modern Arab philosopher. Koyré later joined the Egyptian National Committee of the Free French. He left for the United States to teach as visiting professor at the New School for Social Research in New York City
. From then on his career would mostly span across EPHE and the USA (at Johns Hopkins University). His lectures at this college would form the nucleus of one of his best known publications, From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe (1957). Koyré also became a member of the Institute for Advanced Study
of Princeton
in 1956.
He died in Paris on 28 April 1964.
Koyré focused on Galileo
, Plato
, and Isaac Newton
. His most famous work is From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe, originally a lecture series delivered at The Johns Hopkins University in 1953, about the rise of early modern science and the change of scientists' perception of the world during the period from Nicholas of Cusa
and Giordano Bruno
through Newton
. Though the book has been widely heralded, it was at the time more a summation of Koyré's perspective than an original new work.
Koyré was suspicious of scientists' claims to prove natural or fundamental truths through experiments. He argued that these experiments were based on complicated premises, and that they tended to prove the outlook behind these premises, rather than any real truth. He repeatedly critiqued Galileo's experiments, claiming that some of them could not have taken place, and brought into question the results that Galileo claimed and which modern historians of science had hitherto accepted.
According to Koyré, it was not the experimental or empirical nature of Galileo's and Newton's discoveries that carried the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th Centuries, but a shift in perspective, a change in theoretical outlook toward the world. Koyré strongly criticized what he called the “positivist
” notion that science should only discover given phenomena, the relations between them and certain laws that would help to describe or predict them. To Koyré science was, at its heart, theory: an aspiration to know the truth of the world, of uncovering the essential structures from which phenomena, and the basic laws relating to them, arise.
Koyré was also interested in the correlations between scientific discoveries and religious or philosophical world views. Not unlike Husserl in his later studies, Koyré claimed that modern science had succeeded in overcoming the split, inherent in traditional Aristotelian
science, between Earth
and Space
, since these were now both seen as governed by the same laws. On the other hand, another split had now been created, between the phenomenal world inhabited by man and the purely abstract, mathematical world of science. Koyré aimed to show how this “first world”, the world of human dwelling (personal and historical), apparently irrelevant to modern naturalistic research, was by no means irrelevant for the very constitution and development of this research. Koyré consistently sought to show how scientific truth is always discovered in correlation with specific historical, even purely personal, circumstances.
Koyré’s work can be seen as a systematic analysis of the constitutive achievements that resulted in scientific knowledge - but with particular emphasis on the historical, and specifically human, circumstances that generate the scientists’ phenomenal world and serve as foundation for all scientific constitutions of meaning.
Koyré influenced major European and American philosophers of science, most significantly Thomas Kuhn
and Paul Feyerabend
. In 1961 he was awarded the Sarton Medal
by the History of Science Society
.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
philosopher of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n origin who wrote on the history
History of science
The history of science is the study of the historical development of human understandings of the natural world and the domains of the social sciences....
and philosophy of science
Philosophy of science
The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...
.
Life
Koyré was born on 29 August 1892, in the city of TaganrogTaganrog
Taganrog is a seaport city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located on the north shore of Taganrog Bay , several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don River. Population: -History of Taganrog:...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, into a Jewish family. In Russia he studied in Tiflis, Rostov on Don and Odessa, before pursuing studies abroad.
In Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(1908–11), he studied under Edmund Husserl
Edmund Husserl
Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl was a philosopher and mathematician and the founder of the 20th century philosophical school of phenomenology. He broke with the positivist orientation of the science and philosophy of his day, yet he elaborated critiques of historicism and of psychologism in logic...
and David Hilbert
David Hilbert
David Hilbert was a German mathematician. He is recognized as one of the most influential and universal mathematicians of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Hilbert discovered and developed a broad range of fundamental ideas in many areas, including invariant theory and the axiomatization of...
. Husserl did not approve of Koyré's dissertation, whereupon Koyré left for Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, to study from 1912, notably under Henri Bergson
Henri Bergson
Henri-Louis Bergson was a major French philosopher, influential especially in the first half of the 20th century. Bergson convinced many thinkers that immediate experience and intuition are more significant than rationalism and science for understanding reality.He was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize...
and Léon Brunschvicg. Following Husserl's Cartesian Meditations
Cartesian Meditations
Cartesian Meditations: An Introduction to Phenomenology is a book by the philosopher Edmund Husserl, based on two two-hour lectures he gave at the Sorbonne, in the Amphithéatre Descartes on February 23 and 25, 1929. Over the next two years, he and his assistant Eugen Fink expanded and elaborated on...
, a series of lectures given in Paris and one of the more important of Husserl's later works, Koyré met again with Husserl repeatedly and influenced his understanding of Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei , was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism...
.
In 1914 Koyré joined the French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
as soon as the war broke out. In 1916 he volunteered for a Russian regiment fighting on the Russian front, following a cooperation agreement between the French and Russian governments.
From 1922 Koyré taught in Paris at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes
École pratique des hautes études
The École pratique des hautes études is a Grand Établissement in Paris, France. It is counted among France's most prestigious research and higher education institutions....
(EPHE), and became a colleague of Alexandre Kojève
Alexandre Kojève
Alexandre Kojève was a Russian-born French philosopher and statesman whose philosophical seminars had an immense influence on twentieth-century French philosophy, particularly via his integration of Hegelian concepts into continental philosophy...
, who eventually replaced him as lecturer on Hegel. In 1932 the EPHE created a Department of History of Religious Thought in Modern Europe for him to chair. During the years 1932–34, 1936–38, and 1940–41, Koyré taught in Fuad University (later Cairo University) where, along with André Lalande and others, he introduced the study of modern philosophy to Egyptian academia. His most important student in Cairo was Abd al-Rahman al-Badawi (1917–2002) who is considered the first systematic modern Arab philosopher. Koyré later joined the Egyptian National Committee of the Free French. He left for the United States to teach as visiting professor at the New School for Social Research in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. From then on his career would mostly span across EPHE and the USA (at Johns Hopkins University). His lectures at this college would form the nucleus of one of his best known publications, From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe (1957). Koyré also became a member of the Institute for Advanced Study
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...
of Princeton
Princeton
-Princeton, New Jersey:*Borough of Princeton, New Jersey*Princeton Township, New Jersey*Princeton, New Jersey -Other places in New Jersey:*Princeton Junction, New Jersey*Princeton Meadows, New Jersey...
in 1956.
He died in Paris on 28 April 1964.
Work
Though best known as a philosopher of science, Koyré started out as a historian of religion. Much of his originality rested on his ability to ground his studies of modern science in the history of religion and metaphysics.Koyré focused on Galileo
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei , was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism...
, Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
, and Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
. His most famous work is From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe, originally a lecture series delivered at The Johns Hopkins University in 1953, about the rise of early modern science and the change of scientists' perception of the world during the period from Nicholas of Cusa
Nicholas of Cusa
Nicholas of Kues , also referred to as Nicolaus Cusanus and Nicholas of Cusa, was a cardinal of the Catholic Church from Germany , a philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and an astronomer. He is widely considered one of the great geniuses and polymaths of the 15th century...
and Giordano Bruno
Giordano Bruno
Giordano Bruno , born Filippo Bruno, was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer. His cosmological theories went beyond the Copernican model in proposing that the Sun was essentially a star, and moreover, that the universe contained an infinite number of inhabited...
through Newton
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
. Though the book has been widely heralded, it was at the time more a summation of Koyré's perspective than an original new work.
Koyré was suspicious of scientists' claims to prove natural or fundamental truths through experiments. He argued that these experiments were based on complicated premises, and that they tended to prove the outlook behind these premises, rather than any real truth. He repeatedly critiqued Galileo's experiments, claiming that some of them could not have taken place, and brought into question the results that Galileo claimed and which modern historians of science had hitherto accepted.
According to Koyré, it was not the experimental or empirical nature of Galileo's and Newton's discoveries that carried the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th Centuries, but a shift in perspective, a change in theoretical outlook toward the world. Koyré strongly criticized what he called the “positivist
Positivism
Positivism is a a view of scientific methods and a philosophical approach, theory, or system based on the view that, in the social as well as natural sciences, sensory experiences and their logical and mathematical treatment are together the exclusive source of all worthwhile information....
” notion that science should only discover given phenomena, the relations between them and certain laws that would help to describe or predict them. To Koyré science was, at its heart, theory: an aspiration to know the truth of the world, of uncovering the essential structures from which phenomena, and the basic laws relating to them, arise.
Koyré was also interested in the correlations between scientific discoveries and religious or philosophical world views. Not unlike Husserl in his later studies, Koyré claimed that modern science had succeeded in overcoming the split, inherent in traditional Aristotelian
Aristotelianism
Aristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. The works of Aristotle were initially defended by the members of the Peripatetic school, and, later on, by the Neoplatonists, who produced many commentaries on Aristotle's writings...
science, between Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
and Space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
, since these were now both seen as governed by the same laws. On the other hand, another split had now been created, between the phenomenal world inhabited by man and the purely abstract, mathematical world of science. Koyré aimed to show how this “first world”, the world of human dwelling (personal and historical), apparently irrelevant to modern naturalistic research, was by no means irrelevant for the very constitution and development of this research. Koyré consistently sought to show how scientific truth is always discovered in correlation with specific historical, even purely personal, circumstances.
Koyré’s work can be seen as a systematic analysis of the constitutive achievements that resulted in scientific knowledge - but with particular emphasis on the historical, and specifically human, circumstances that generate the scientists’ phenomenal world and serve as foundation for all scientific constitutions of meaning.
Koyré influenced major European and American philosophers of science, most significantly Thomas Kuhn
Thomas Kuhn
Thomas Samuel Kuhn was an American historian and philosopher of science whose controversial 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions was deeply influential in both academic and popular circles, introducing the term "paradigm shift," which has since become an English-language staple.Kuhn...
and Paul Feyerabend
Paul Feyerabend
Paul Karl Feyerabend was an Austrian-born philosopher of science best known for his work as a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked for three decades . He lived a peripatetic life, living at various times in England, the United States, New Zealand,...
. In 1961 he was awarded the Sarton Medal
George Sarton Medal
The George Sarton Medal is the most prestigious award given by the History of Science Society. It has been awarded annually since 1955. It is awarded to an historian of science from the international community who became distinguished for "a lifetime of scholarly achievement" in the field...
by the History of Science Society
History of Science Society
The History of Science Society is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science.It was founded in 1924 by George Sarton and Lawrence Joseph Henderson, primarily to support the publication of Isis, a journal of the history of science Sarton had started in 1912....
.
Writings (selection)
- La Philosophie de Jacob Boehme, Paris, J. Vrin, 1929.
- Études galiléennes, Paris: Hermann, 1939
- From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe, Baltimore: John Hopkins Press, 1957
- La Révolution astronomique: Copernic, Kepler, Borelli, Paris: Hermann, 1961
- The Astronomical Revolution Methuen, London 1973
- Introduction à la lecture de Platon, Paris: Gallimard 1994
- Metaphysics & Measurement: Essays in Scientific Revolution Harvard University Press 1968
- A Documentary History of the Problem of Fall from Kepler to Newton, pp329–395 Transactions of the American Philosophical Society vol 45 1955
- Newtonian Studies Chapman & Hall 1965
External links
- Alexandre Koyré's Online Archives Project (papers, manuscripts, notes, etc.) realised by Center Alexandre- KOYRE/CRHST in partnership with CN2SV/CNRS)
- Mailing list about Alexandre Koyré's archives : A mailing list about A. Koyré archives
- Center Alexandre-KOYRE/CRHST, history of science and technologies center (Paris, France) supported by CNRS, EHESS, Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie and Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle.
- The Alexandre Koyre Prize at the International Academy of the History of ScienceInternational Academy of the History of ScienceThe International Academy of the History of Science is a membership organization for historians of science. It was founded on 17 August 1928 at the Congress of Historical Science by Aldo Mieli, Abel Rey, George Sarton, Henry E...
.