The philosophy of chemistry considers the methodology and underlying assumptions of the science of chemistry. It is explored by philosophers, chemists, and philosopher-chemist teams. For much of its history, philosophy of science has been dominated by the philosophy of physics, but the philosophical questions that arise from chemistry have received increasing attention since the latter part of the 20th century.

Foundations of chemistry

Major philosophical questions arise as soon as one attempts to define chemistry and what it studies. Atoms and molecules are often assumed to be the fundamental units of chemical theory, but traditional descriptions of molecular structure and chemical bonding fail to account for the properties of many substances, including metals and metal complexes and aromaticity.

Additionally, chemists frequently use non-existent chemical entities like resonance structures have recently suggested that a number of difficulties exist in the reductionist program with concepts like aromaticity, pH, reactivity, nucleophilicity, for example.

Philosophers of chemistry

Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling was among the first philosophers to use the term "philosophy of chemistry".

Several philosophers and scientists have focused on the philosophy of chemistry in recent years, notably, the Dutch philosopher Jaap van Brakel, who wrote The Philosophy of Chemistry in 2000, and the Maltese-born philosopher-chemist Eric Scerri, founder and editor of the journal Foundations of Chemistry. Scerri is also the author of "Normative and Descriptive Philosophy of Science and the Role of Chemistry," published in Philosophy of Chemistry in 2004, among other articles, many of which are collected in Collected Papers on the Philosophy of Chemistry. 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.

Although in other fields of science students of the method are generally not practitioners in the field, in chemistry (particularly in synthetic organic chemistry) intellectual method and philosophical foundations are often explored by investigators with active research programmes. Elias James Corey developed the concept of "retrosynthesis" published a seminal work "The logic of chemical synthesis" which deconstructs these thought processes and speculates on computer-assisted synthesis. Other chemists such as K. C. Nicolaou (co-author of Classics in Total Synthesis) have followed in his lead.

See also

  • History of chemistry
  • The central science

References

Further reading

Review articles

  • Philosophy of Chemistry article on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Journals

  • Foundations of Chemistry, an international peer-reviewed journal for History and Philosophy of Chemistry as well as Chemical Education published by Springer.
  • Hyle: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry, an English-language peer-reviewed journal associated with the University of Karlsruhe, Germany.

Books

  • Philosophy of Chemistry, J. van Brakel, Leuven University Press, 2000.
  • Philosophy of Chemistry: Synthesis of a New Discipline, Davis Baird, Eric Scerri, Lee McIntyre (eds.), Dordrecht: Springer, 2006.
  • The Periodic Table: Its Story and Its Significance, E.R. Scerri, Oxford University Press, New York, 2006.
  • Collected Papers on Philosophy of Chemistry, E.R. Scerri, Imperial College Press, London, 2008.
  • Of Minds and Molecules: New Philosophical Perspectives on Chemistry, Nalini Bhushan and Stuart Rosenfeld (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2000, Reviewed by Michael Weisberg
  • Philosophy of Chemistry : Growth of a New Discipline, Eric Scerri, Lee McIntyre (eds.), Heidelberg: Springer, 2015.
  • Reduction and Emergence in Chemistry, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • International Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry
  • International Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry Summer symposium 2011
  • International Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry Summer symposium 2016
  • Website for Eric Scerri, author and founder-editor of Foundations of Chemistry