Alexandre Koyré

Alexandre Koyré (1892–1964) was a historian and philosopher of science who interpreted the Scientific Revolution as a profound transformation in concepts, especially the shift from a finite cosmos to an infinite universe.

Scientific Revolution: A major transformation in European natural philosophy and science, conventionally dated from the sixteenth through seventeenth centuries. Koyré treated this period as a change in fundamental ways of thinking, not merely a sequence of discoveries.
From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe: Koyré’s 1957 study of the conceptual transition from a bounded cosmos to an indefinite or infinite universe. This book presents his central account of cosmological change in its most direct form.
Galileo Galilei: An Italian astronomer and physicist whose work helped establish mathematical approaches to motion and astronomy. Koyré made Galileo a central figure in his account of the birth of modern science.
Continuity Thesis: The historical interpretation that modern science developed substantially through continuity with medieval and ancient natural philosophy. It challenges the sharp intellectual rupture Koyré drew between medieval cosmology and modern science.
Cosmology: The study of the universe’s large-scale structure, origins, and governing principles. His account emphasizes the replacement of an ordered, finite cosmos with an immense universe.
Galileo Studies: Koyré’s historical analyses of Galileo’s science, including his use of idealized thought experiments and mathematical reasoning. His reading of Galileo exemplifies his emphasis on conceptual foundations over simple accumulation of observations.
Isaac Newton: An English mathematician and natural philosopher whose laws of motion and gravitation shaped classical physics. Koyré studied Newton’s synthesis as a defining expression of the new scientific worldview.
Pierre Duhem: A French physicist and historian of science who emphasized medieval contributions to the development of modern physics. Duhem’s continuity-focused history stands against Koyré’s stronger account of conceptual discontinuity.
History of Science: The study of how scientific knowledge, practices, and institutions have changed over time. Koyré helped establish intellectual history as a way to explain scientific change.
Études galiléennes: Koyré’s 1939 collection of studies on Galileo and the formation of modern mechanics. The work develops his influential interpretation of Galileo’s break with Aristotelian physics.

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