Philosophy of Chemistry
Ashok Pratap Singh
What is chemistry?
Chemistry is in a sense the typical laboratory science.
While astronomers have to get along
without experimenting directly on the distant objects of their attention, and
biologists have to experiment within ethical and legal restraints on more available objects,
chemistry conforms to, and
indeed gave rise to, textbook explanations of what constitutes the scientific method.
What is the philosophy of chemistry?
The philosophy of chemistry considers............
the methodology and underlying assumptions of the science of chemistry.
Philosophers of chemistry discuss.............
for example, whether nature is symmetric as between right-and left-handedness.
i.e., "stereo-specific."
Left-handed amino acids and right-handed sugars are the basis of the chemistry of life.
The Chemist’s View
Chemists rightly feel proud of the fact that ............
 they engage the phenomenal world through experimentation
 are prepared to revise their theories and practices accordingly.
To the chemist..............
 the philosopher—who conducts no experiments whatsoever—
lives in a fantasy world and cannot be taken seriously.
From the scientific perspective...............
 philosophical views do not seem very dynamic, since they
sometimes stem from established philosophical doctrines or
pre-beliefs about the ways the world should be.
The philosopher’s view
Most philosophers of science believe that .............
 chemistry has been reduced to physics and is therefore of no
fundamental interest.
 chemistry has no “big ideas” to compare with quantum mechanics
and relativity in physics and Darwin’s theory in biology.
Furthermore, given their relative lack of interest in experiment, as
opposed to theory, it is not surprising that philosophers have tended to
ignore chemistry (the experimental science).
But.........
during the past ten years or so there has been a significant interest in
the field of philosophy of chemistry.
‘Reduction’ of Chemistry
The term ‘reduction’ of chemistry generally means that....
 all the deep questions in science can be resolved by appealing to the more
fundamental theories found in physics and do not require any major inputs of
chemistry.
 chemistry itself gets reduced to physics as it increasingly uses physical
principles to explain atomic structure and the periodic system.
many other areas of chemistry are also approached through physical principles
rather than by focusing on qualitative aspects and observed phenomena.
Neglect of philosophy of chemistry
On examining of publications in philosophy of science we find..............


tens of thousands of contributions to philosophical problems of
physics and biology,
whereas
only a small fraction of the corresponding works are devoted to
chemistry.
What are the reasons for this “neglect of the philosophy of chemistry”
Reasons
The majority of chemists adore more or less some form of scientific
realism that gives the objects of chemical theories, i.e. molecules,
atoms, structures etc., the status of “constituent parts of the world”.
 Moreover, the chemists often claim that chemistry is one of the –
oldest human enterprise because all changes in the material world
involve in one way or another chemical processes, making superfluous
a philosophical treatment of the “obvious”.
Reasons
This maybe because...........
physics and biology
– with the development of relativity theory, quantum mechanics,
evolutionary theory, and genetics –
trespassed the margins of human imagination
and shook the traditional views about the cosmos and man’s place in it.
Reasons
Whereas ..............
Chemistry,
during the historical period of its maturing as a science, was not involved in
answering any cosmological, theological or existential questions
but was rather busy providing materials and methods for laying down the
fundaments of the wealth of some nations,
improving the standard of living of their populations and setting the seeds for
the various environmental and social problems.
Conclusion
Chemistry has a unique place between physics and biology in the
traditional hierarchy of the natural sciences.
As such,
isn’t it reasonable to assume that chemistry may yield a set of
issues worthy of increased philosophical attention?
Conclusion
In addition, chemistry has traditionally been,
and continues to be,
the science concerned with the nature of the elements,
of substance and indeed of the nature of matter,
again all traditional philosophical questions!
Philosophers and Scientists
Several philosophers and scientists have focused on the philosophy of
chemistry in recent years............ notably,
• the Belgian philosopher Jaap van Brakel,
• who wrote The Philosophy of Chemistry in 2000
• the Maltese philosopher-chemist Eric Scerri,
• editor of the journal "Foundations of Chemistry" and author of Normative and
Descriptive Philosophy of Science and the Role of Chemistry in Philosophy of
Chemistry, 2004
Scerri is especially interested in the philosophical foundations of the
periodic table, and how physics and chemistry intersect in relation to it,
which he contends is not merely a matter for science, but for philosophy.
Have a nice day !
References
Philosophy of Chemistry : Synthesis of a New Discipline, Davis Baird, Eric Scerri, Lee
McIntyre (eds.), Dordrecht: Springer, 2006
Philosophy of Chemistry, J. van Brakel, Leuven University Press, 2000
International Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry
http://ispc.sas.upenn.edu/
www.uni-leipzig.de