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Philosophy of Chemistry

Synthesis of a New Discipline

  • Book
  • © 2006

Overview

Editors:
  1. Davis Baird

    1. University of South Carolina, USA

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  2. Eric Scerri

    1. University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  3. Lee McIntyre

    1. Boston University, Boston

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • First comprehensive scholarly volume (not a textbook) devoted to philosophy of chemistry
  • First volume within the Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science series on philosophy of chemistry
  • Collection of the best and most recent scholarly work in the field, not found in scholarly journals

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science (BSPS, volume 242)

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Table of contents (19 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-vii
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  2. Chemistry and the Philosophy of Chemistry

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. Introduction

      • Davis Baird, Eric Scerri, Lee McIntyre
      Pages 3-18

    3. The Philosophy of Chemistry

      • Joachim Schummer
      Pages 19-39

  3. Chemistry and the History and Philosophy of Science

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 41-41
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    2. Aristole’s Theory of Chemical Reaction and Chemical Substances

      • Paul Needham
      Pages 43-67

    3. Kant’s Legacy for the Philosophy of Chemistry

      • J. Van Brakel
      Pages 69-91

  4. Chemistry and Current Philosophy of Science

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 93-93
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    2. The Conceptual Structure of the Sciences

      • Otto Theodor Benfey
      Pages 95-117

    3. Normative and Descriptive Philosophy of Science and the Role of Chemistry

      • Eric R. Scerri
      Pages 119-128

    4. How Classical Models of Explanation Fail to Cope with Chemistry

      • Johannes Hunger
      Pages 129-156

    5. Professional Ethics in Science

      • Jeffrey Kovac
      Pages 157-169

  5. Chemistry and Physics

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 171-171
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    2. Is There Downward Causation in Chemistry?

      • Robin Findlay Hendry
      Pages 173-189

    3. Physics in the Crucible of Chemistry

      • G. K. Vemulapalli
      Pages 191-204

  6. Chemical Theory and Foundational Questions

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 205-205
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    2. Some Philosophical Implications of Chemical Symmetry

      • Joseph E. Earley
      Pages 207-220

    3. The Periodics Systems of Molecules

      • Ray Hefferlin
      Pages 221-243

    4. A New Paradigm for Schrödinger and Kohn

      • Jack R. Woodyard
      Pages 245-269

  7. Chemistry and its Tools of Representation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 271-271
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Keywords

About this book

The Invisibility of Chemistry DAVIS BAIRD South Carolina Honors College, University of South Carolina ERIC SCERRI Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles LEE MCINTYRE Center for Philosophy and History of Science, Boston University BUTWHATAREALLTHOSECHEMISTSDOING? Recently, one of us (Davis Baird) attended a meeting of historians of science and technology spanning all of the natural sciences and engineering and all (western) periods, ancient through contemporary. In the discussion of a paper on state-of-t- art history of modern (18th century forward) chemistry, a member of the audience made the claim that there was very little left to do in contemporary chemistry and that chemistry departments in his country were having trouble attracting graduate students. Baird found this perspective on contemporary chemistry both remarkable andimplausible,andsaidasmuch. AttheUniversityofSouthCarolina(USC)—where he teaches—chemistry enrolls, and graduates, ?ve times as many graduate students as physics. In this, USC is not unique. The discipline of chemistry is, in fact, enormous and enormously productive. Joachim Schummer in this volume (Chapter 2) makes the point persuasively and concisely with data on the number of publications in various ?elds. With a grand total just shy of 900,000 papers indexed in chemical abstracts for the year 2000, chemistry is larger than all of the other natural sciences combined.

Reviews

From the reviews:

"This seems to indicate that the philosophy of chemistry is still in the process of synthesis, rather than a stable product of disciplinary consensus. … There is material here of interest not just to philosophers, but also those with interests in history and philosophy of science and indeed the study of science and technology more broadly. … for those who are curious, this volume would be a very good place to start seeking illumination." (Grant Fisher, Metascience, Vol. 16, 2007)

“Chapters in this book … discuss chemistry’s historical development; its relations to other sciences; its approaches to explanation, representation, classification, and measurement; and the ways in which issues in chemistry connect with, and shed light upon, larger philosophical questions about how sciences help us make sense of the world we live in. … the philosophical questions, and their clear, careful, and engaging presentation in this book, will be of genuine interest to chemists … . the essays in this volume will be a welcome resource.” (Janet D. Stemwedel, Journal of Chemical Education, Vol. 83 (8), August, 2006)

"This collection of 19 papers is the result of a conference organized by the International Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry (ISPC) held in 1999. It … will be read as, a landmark in the history of the philosophy of science. … This volume testifies that … chemistry has a philosophy of its own." (Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, Nuncius, Vol. XXI (2), 2006)

Editors and Affiliations

  • University of South Carolina, USA

    Davis Baird

  • University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles

    Eric Scerri

  • Boston University, Boston

    Lee McIntyre

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