Scientific mental representations of Thermodynamics

The analysis of a certain number of textbooks on Thermodynamics is expounded with the aim of showing that several mental representations of this subject matter are present in scientific literature. This analysis points out divergent attitudes not only towards the definition of fundamental concepts principles, but also towards the epistemological status of Thermodynamics. These attitudes underlie-sometimes tacitly-the relationship between the macroscopic and the microscopic approach on one side and between the state or process approach on the other. We also show the importance of both the historical reconstruction and the epistemological analysis for a deeper understanding of what these different mental representations underlie and entail.