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  1. Chemistry without Atoms.Klaus Ruthenberg & Pieter Thyssen (eds.) - forthcoming - Würzburg: Königshausen and Neumann.
  2. Mendeleev’s Periodic Law and the 19th Century Debates on Atomism.Pieter Thyssen - forthcoming - In Martin Eisvogel & Klaus Ruthenberg (eds.), Wald, Positivism and Chemistry.
    The heated debates and severe conflicts between the atomists and the anti-atomists of the latter half of the nineteenth century are well known to the historian of science. The position of Dmitrii Ivanovich Mendeleev towards these nineteenth century debates on atomism will be studied in this paper. A first attempt will thus be offered to reconcile Mendeleev’s seemingly contradictory comments and ambiguous standpoints into one coherent view.
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  3. On Some Features of the Scientific Hylorealistic Background of Crystal Chemistry.Matias Velázquez - 2022 - Mεtascience: Scientific General Discourse 2:96-128.
    In this paper, we try to understand how Bunge’s scientific hylorealism can fit with several crystal chemistry’s objects and their properties. It is found that many of them, lying at the very core of this discipline, bring support to ontologi-cal emergentism. Building units, such as vacancies, their chemical potential, the crystal quantum number and many aspects of the spectroscopic properties of 4f electrons in ionic crystals, are presented as striking examples of emergent (or submergent) objects or properties encountered in the (...)
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  4. Sur quelques aspects de l’arrière-plan hyloréaliste scientifique de la chimie des cristaux.Matias Velázquez - 2022 - Mεtascience: Discours Général Scientifique 2:125-161.
    Dans cet article, nous essayons de comprendre comment l’hyloréalisme scientifique de Bunge peut s’accommoder avec plusieurs objets de la chimie des cristaux et leurs propriétés. Nous montrons que plusieurs d’entre eux, constituant le cœur de la discipline, soutiennent l’émergentisme ontologique. Les unités de construction, comme les lacunes, leur potentiel chimique, le nombre quantique cristallographique et plusieurs aspects des propriétés spectroscopiques des électrons 4f dans les cristaux ioniques, sont présentés comme des exemples remarquables d’objets ou de propriétés émergents (ou submergents) rencontrés (...)
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  5. Guest Editor: Foundations of Chemistry (Special Issue).Marina P. Banchetti - 2017 - Foundations of Chemistry 19 (1).
  6. Philosophy of chemistry: unkempt jungle and fertile ground: Eric Scerri and Lee McIntyre : Philosophy of chemistry: Growth of a new discipline . Dordrecht: Springer, 2015. xii+233pp, $99 HB.Micah Newman - 2016 - Metascience 25 (3):473-477.
  7. Chemical atomism: a case study in confirmation and ontology.Joshua D. K. Brown - 2015 - Synthese 192 (2):453-485.
    Quine, taking the molecular constitution of matter as a paradigmatic example, offers an account of the relation between theory confirmation and ontology. Elsewhere, he deploys a similar ontological methodology to argue for the existence of mathematical objects. Penelope Maddy considers the atomic/molecular theory in more historical detail. She argues that the actual ontological practices of science display a positivistic demand for “direct observation,” and that fulfillment of this demand allows us to distinguish molecules and other physical objects from mathematical abstracta. (...)
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  8. Natural Kind Essentialism Revisited.Tuomas E. Tahko - 2015 - Mind 124 (495):795-822.
    Recent work on Natural Kind Essentialism has taken a deflationary turn. The assumptions about the grounds of essentialist truths concerning natural kinds familiar from the Kripke-Putnam framework are now considered questionable. The source of the problem, however, has not been sufficiently explicated. The paper focuses on the Twin Earth scenario, and it will be demonstrated that the essentialist principle at its core (which I call IDENT)—that necessarily, a sample of a chemical substance, A, is of the same kind as another (...)
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  9. The Relevance of Boyle's Chemical Philosophy for Contemporary Philosophy of Chemistry.Marina Paola Banchetti-Robino - 2013 - In Jean-Pierre Llored (ed.), The Philosophy of Chemistry: Practices, Methodologies, and Concepts. Cambridge Scholars Press.
  10. A Defense of the Suppositionalist View of Hypothetical Entities.Jonathon Daniel Hricko - 2013 - Dissertation,
    When scientists put forward hypotheses, they sometimes involve new kinds of entities, which we can call 'hypothetical entities.' Hypothetical entities are pervasive in the sciences, and some examples include caloric and, up until very recently, the Higgs boson. Some hypothetical entities are discovered, as was the case with the Higgs boson, while scientists conclude that others, like caloric, do not exist. Hypothetical entities pose a number of important challenges for the philosophy of science, and my goal is to develop and (...)
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  11. Reducing Chemistry to Physics: Limits, Models, Consequences.Hinne Hettema - 2012 - Createspace.
    Chemistry and physics are two sciences that are hard to connect. Yet there is significant overlap in their aims, methods, and theoretical approaches. In this book, the reduction of chemistry to physics is defended from the viewpoint of a naturalised Nagelian reduction, which is based on a close reading of Nagel's original text. This naturalised notion of reduction is capable of characterising the inter-theory relationships between theories of chemistry and theories of physics. The reconsideration of reduction also leads to a (...)
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  12. Internal realism and the problem of ontological autonomy: a critical note on Lombardi and Labarca.Alexandru Manafu - 2012 - Foundations of Chemistry 15 (2):225-228.
    This paper discusses the proposal made by Lombardi and Labarca (Found Chem 7:125–148, 2005) that internal realism can secure the ontological autonomy of chemistry. I argue that internal realism is not, by itself, sufficient to accomplish this task. The fact that conceptual schemes may differ with respect to their theoretical virtues, and the possibility that the relations between them may be reductive undermine the premise that each conceptual scheme has an equal right to define its own ontology, which is a (...)
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  13. Are Orbitals Observable?Peter Mulder - 2011 - Hyle 17 (1):24 - 35.
    In this paper I discuss the question whether orbitals can be observed or not. I argue that the answer depends on how the terms 'orbitals' and 'observed' are understood. The fact that different authors take radically different stances on the issue is caused by their employing different uses of either of the two terms. I furthermore discuss a recent argument by Labarca and Lombardi to the effect that the orbital concept in chemistry is discontinuous with that in quantum mechanics. I (...)
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  14. Matters are not so clear on the physical side.Mario Castagnino - 2010 - Foundations of Chemistry 12 (2):159-166.
    According to ontological reductionism, molecular chemistry refers, at last, to the quantum ontology; therefore, the ontological commitments of chemistry turn out to be finally grounded on quantum mechanics. The main problem of this position is that nobody really knows what quantum ontology is. The purpose of this work is to argue that the confidence in the existence of the physical entities described by quantum mechanics does not take into account the interpretative problems of the theory: in the discussions about the (...)
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  15. The elements and conceptual change.Robin Hendry - 2010 - In Helen Beebee & Nigel Sabbarton-Leary (eds.), The Semantics and Metaphysics of Natural Kinds. New York: Routledge.
  16. Why orbitals do not exist?Martín Labarca & Olimpia Lombardi - 2010 - Foundations of Chemistry 12 (2):149-157.
    In this paper we will address the problem of the existence of orbitals by analyzing the relationship between molecular chemistry and quantum mechanics. In particular, we will consider the concept of orbital in the light of the arguments that deny its referring character. On this basis, we will conclude that the claim that orbitals do not exist relies on a metaphysical reductionism which, if consistently sustained, would lead to consequences clashing with the effective practice of science in its different branches.
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  17. (1 other version)Acerca del status ontológico de las entidades químicas: el caso de los orbitales atómicos.Martín Labarca & Olimpia Lombardi - 2010 - Principia: An International Journal of Epistemology 14 (3):309-333.
    The aim of the present paper is to analyze the problem of the relationship between chemistry and physics, by focusing on the widely discussed case of the atomic orbitals. We will begin by remembering the difference between the physical and the chemical interpretation of the concept of orbital. Then, we will refer to the claim made in 1999 that atomic orbitals have been directly imaged for the first time. On this basis, we will analyze the problem from a new approach, (...)
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  18. Mereology and quantum chemistry: the approximation of molecular orbital. [REVIEW]Jean-Pierre Llored - 2010 - Foundations of Chemistry 12 (3):203-221.
    Mulliken proposed an Aufbauprinzip for the molecules on the basis of molecular spectroscopy while establishing, point by point, his concept of molecular orbit. It is the concept of electronic state which becomes the lever for his attribution of electronic configurations to a molecule. In 1932, the concept of orbit was transmuted into that of the molecular orbital to integrate the probabilistic approach of Born and to achieve quantitative accuracy. On the basis of the quantum works of Hund, Wigner, Lennard-Jones and (...)
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  19. On the alleged non-existence of orbitals.Peter Mulder - 2010 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 41 (2):178-182.
  20. (1 other version)Is it Possible to Observe Orbitals? On the Problems of Observability and Reality of Theoretical Entities.Pawel Zeidler - 2010 - Filozofia Nauki 18 (4):5.
  21. (1 other version)Czy można zaobserwować orbitale? O problemie obserwowalności i realności przedmiotów teoretycznych.Paweł Zeidler - 2010 - Filozofia Nauki 18 (4).
    In September 1999 "Nature" magazine announced that atomic orbitals were di-rectly observed. Opposing it, Eric Scerri, editor-in-chief of "Foundations of Chemistry", claimed that what could be observed in the experiment was electron density, not orbitals. The main purpose of this paper is to consider philosophical and methodological aspects of the above controversy. Especially, the problems of direct observability and reality of theoretical entities are taken under detailed discussion. From the point of view of quantum mechanics there are not any reasons (...)
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  22. Paneth, Kant, and the philosophy of chemistry.Klaus Ruthenberg - 2009 - Foundations of Chemistry 11 (2):79-91.
    Immanuel Kant has built up a dualistic epistemology that seems to fit to the peculiarities of chemistry quite well. Friedrich Paneth used Kant’s concept and characterised simple and basic substances which refer to the empirical and to the transcendental world, respectively. This paper takes account of the Kantian influences in Paneth’s philosophy of chemistry, and discusses pertinent topics, like observables, atomism and realism.
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  23. Microstructuralism and macromolecules: The case of moonlighting proteins. [REVIEW]Emma Tobin - 2009 - Foundations of Chemistry 12 (1):41-54.
    Microstructuralism in the philosophy of chemistry is the thesis that chemical kinds can be individuated in terms of their microstructural properties (Hendry in Philos Sci 73:864–875, 2006 ). Elements provide paradigmatic examples, since the atomic number should suffice to individuate the kind. In theory, Microstructuralism should also characterise higher-level chemical kinds such as molecules, compounds, and macromolecules based on their constituent atomic properties. In this paper, several microstructural theses are distinguished. An analysis of macromolecules such as moonlighting proteins suggests that (...)
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  24. Atom and aether in nineteenth-century physical science.Alan F. Chalmers - 2008 - Foundations of Chemistry 10 (3):157-166.
    This paper suggests that the cases made for atoms and the aether in nineteenth-century physical science were analogous, with the implication that the case for the atom was less than compelling, since there is no aether. It is argued that atoms did not play a productive role in nineteenth-century chemistry any more than the aether did in physics. Atoms and molecules did eventually find an indispensable home in chemistry but by the time that they did so they were different kinds (...)
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  25. Trope theory and the ontology of chemistry.Rom Harré - 2008 - Foundations of Chemistry 11 (2):93-103.
    The traditional ontology within which chemistry has developed involved various versions of a general substance/attribute scheme. Recently this has been challenged by two versions of Dynamism. One version is derived from the writings of A. N. Whitehead and the other from several sources, including G. Leibniz and I. Kant. Both involve the idea of flux of actual occasions. Unlike the former scheme, the latter involves a foundation of causal powers and the energetics of field theory. The situation has been made (...)
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  26. What is a chemical property?Nalini Bhushan - 2007 - Synthese 155 (3):293 - 305.
    Despite the currently perceived urgent need among contemporary philosophers of chemistry for adjudicating between two rival metaphysical conceptual frameworks—is chemistry primarily a science of substances or processes?—this essay argues that neither provides us with what we need in our attempts to explain and comprehend chemical operations and phenomena. First, I show the concept of a chemical property can survive the abandoning of the metaphysical framework of substance. While this abandonment means that we will need to give up essential properties, contingent (...)
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  27. (1 other version)What might philosophy of science look like if chemists built it?Roald Hoffmann - 2007 - Synthese 155 (3):321 - 336.
    Had more philosophers of science come from chemistry, their thinking would have been different. I begin by looking at a typical chemical paper, in which making something is the leitmotif, and conjecture/refutation is pretty much irrelevant. What in fact might have been, might be, different? The realism of chemists is reinforced by their remarkable ability to transform matter; they buy into reductionism where it serves them, but make no real use of it. Incommensurability is taken without a blink, and actually (...)
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  28. Why water is not H2O, and other critiques of essentialist ontology from the philosophy of chemistry.Holly VandeWall - 2007 - Philosophy of Science 74 (5):906-919.
    Ellis argues that certain essential properties of objects in the world not only determine the nature of these objects but also how they will behave in any situation. In this paper I will critique Ellis's essentialism from the perspective of the philosophy of chemistry, arguing that our current knowledge of chemistry in fact does not lend itself to essentialist interpretations and that this seriously undercuts Ellis's project. In particular I will criticize two key distinctions Ellis draws between internal vs. external (...)
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  29. The foundations of radical constructivism: An interview with Ernst Von glasersfeld. [REVIEW]Liberato Cardellini - 2006 - Foundations of Chemistry 8 (2):177-187.
    Constructivism rejects the metaphysical position that “truth”, and thus knowledge in science, can represent an “objective” reality, independent of the knower. It modifies the role of knowledge from “true” representation to functional viability. In this interview, Ernst von Glasersfeld, the leading proponent of Radical Constructivism underlines the inaccessibility of reality, and proposes his view that the function of cognition is adaptive, in the biological sense: the adaptation is the result of the elimination of all that is not adapted. There is (...)
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  30. The views and influence of Ernst Von glasersfeld: An introduction. [REVIEW]Liberato Cardellini - 2006 - Foundations of Chemistry 10 (2):129-134.
    Research into learners' ideas about science suggests that students often have alternative conceptions about important science concepts. Because of this dissatisfaction, constructivism has been adopted as a theoretical framework by many teachers and researchers, and it has had a curricular influence in many countries. Constructivism is much more than an educational doctrine and we are aware that a ‘science war’ about the possibility of objectivity is in progress. ‘Constructivism’ cannot necessary be a package deal: it must be possible to accept (...)
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  31. (1 other version)The status of constructivism in chemical education research and its relationship to the teaching and learning of the concept of idealization in chemistry.Kevin C. de Berg - 2006 - Foundations of Chemistry 8 (2):153-176.
    A review of the chemical education research literature suggests that the term constructivism is used in two ways: experience-based constructivism and discipline-based constructivism. These two perspectives are examined as an epistemology in relation to the teaching and learning of the concept of idealization in chemistry. It is claimed that experience-based constructivism is powerless to inform the origin of such concepts in chemistry and while discipline-based constructivism can admit such theoretical concepts as idealization it does not offer any unique perspectives that (...)
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  32. The autonomy of models and explanation: anomalous molecular rearrangements in early twentieth-century physical organic chemistry.Grant Fisher - 2006 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 37 (4):562-584.
    During the 1930s and 1940s, American physical organic chemists employed electronic theories of reaction mechanisms to construct models offering explanations of organic reactions. But two molecular rearrangements presented enormous challenges to model construction. The Claisen and Cope rearrangements were predominantly inaccessible to experimental investigation and they confounded explanation in theoretical terms. Drawing on the idea that models can be autonomous agents in the production of scientific knowledge, I argue that one group of models in particular were functionally autonomous from the (...)
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  33. The ontological autonomy of the chemical world: A response to Needham. [REVIEW]Olimpia Lombardi & Martín Labarca - 2006 - Foundations of Chemistry 8 (1):81-92.
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  34. Letter to the editor: The concept of chemical bond – some like it fuzzy but others concrete.Shant Shahbazian & Mansour Zahedi - 2006 - Foundations of Chemistry 9 (1):85-95.
  35. The role of observables and non-observables in chemistry: A critique of chemical language. [REVIEW]Shant Shahbazian & Mansour Zahedi - 2006 - Foundations of Chemistry 8 (1):37-52.
    In this paper, aspects of observable and non-observable based models are discussed. A survey of recent literature was done to show how using non-observable-based language carelessly may cause disagreement, even in professional research programs and incorrect assertions, even in prestigious journals. The relation between physical measurements and observables is discussed and it is shown that, in contrast to general belief, this relation may be complicated and not always straightforward. The decomposition of the system into basic subsystems (physical or conceptual) is (...)
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  36. Constructivism’s New Clothes: The Trivial, the Contingent, and a Progressive Research Programme into the Learning of Science. [REVIEW]Keith S. Taber - 2006 - Foundations of Chemistry 8 (2):189-219.
    Constructivism has been a key referent for research into the learning of science for several decades. There is little doubt that the research into learners’ ideas in science stimulated by the constructivist movement has been voluminous, and a great deal is now known about the way various science topics may commonly be understood by learners of various ages. Despite this significant research effort, there have been serious criticisms of this area of work: in terms of its philosophical underpinning, the validity (...)
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  37. Connections between pedagogical and epistemological constructivism: Questions for teaching and research in chemistry. [REVIEW]Donald J. Wink - 2006 - Foundations of Chemistry 8 (2):111-151.
    The rich and ongoing debate about constructivism in chemistry education includes questions about the relationship, for better or worse, between applications of the theory in pedagogy and in epistemology. This paper presents an examination of the potential to use connections of epistemological and pedagogical constructivism to one another. It examines connections linked to the content, processes, and premises of science with a goal of prompting further research in these areas.
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  38. Some Aspects of the Metaphysics of Chemistry and the Nature of the Elements.Eric Scerri - 2005 - Hyle 11 (2):127 - 145.
    There is now a considerable body of published work on the epistemology of modern chemistry, especially with regard to the nature of quantum chemistry. In addition, the question of the metaphysical underpinnings of chemistry has received a good deal of attention. The present article concentrates on metaphysical considerations including the question of whether elements and groups of elements are natural kinds. It is also argued that an appeal to the metaphysical nature of elements can help clarify the re-emerging controversies among (...)
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  39. The ontological autonomy of the chemical world.Olimpia Lombardi & Martín Labarca - 2004 - Foundations of Chemistry 7 (2):125-148.
    In the problem of the relationship between chemistry and physics, many authors take for granted the ontological reduction of the chemical world to the world of physics. The autonomy of chemistry is usually defended on the basis of the failure of epistemological reduction: not all chemical concepts and laws can be derived from the theoretical framework of physics. The main aim of this paper is to argue that this line of argumentation is not strong enough for eliminate the idea of (...)
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  40. Language of Chemistry: from the Formal Structures to the Experimental Facts لغة الكيمياء: من البني الصورية إلى الوقائع التجريبية.Salah Osman - 2004 - In Osman Salah (ed.), Towards a Philosophy of the Chemistry نحو فلسفة للكيمياء. Al Maaref Establishment Press. pp. 92 - 113.
    الكيمياء علمٌ تجريبي بطبيعته، يشتغل معمليًا بالجواهر تحليلاً وتركيبًا، ويُقيم بناءاته النسقية استرشادًا بقواعد محددة تحكم إجراءات البحث التجريبي ونتائجه. وكشأن أي نشاط علمي آخر، تستلزم الممارسة الكيميائية لغة جزئية خاصة تصف بناءاتها التجريبية وتُنمّط أشكالها. وما دام التحليل والتركيب – كإجراءين تجريبيين – هما عمادا البحث الكيميائي وجوهره، فمن الضروري أن تحوي لغة الكيمياء تمثيلات صورية توصف بدورها بأنها صيغٌ أو عبارات تحليلية وتركيبية. يمكننا إذن الزعم بأن ثمة علاقة اعتماد متبادلة بين لغة الكيمياء وممارساتها المعملية؛ فاللغة تؤثر مباشرة (...)
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  41. Gestalt switch in molecular image perception: The aesthetic origin of molecular nanotechnology in supramolecular chemistry. [REVIEW]Joachim Schummer - 2004 - Foundations of Chemistry 8 (1):53-72.
    According to ‘standard histories’ of nanotechnology, the colorful pictures of atoms produced by scanning probe microscopists since the 1980s essentially inspired visions of molecular nanotechnology. In this paper, I provide an entirely different account that, nonetheless, refers to aesthetic inspiration, First, I argue that the basic idea of molecular nanotechnology, i.e., producing molecular devices, has been the goal of supramolecular chemistry that emerged earlier, without being called nanotechnology. Secondly, I argue that in supramolecular chemistry the production of molecular devices was (...)
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  42. The paradoxes of chemical classification: Why `water is h2o' is not an identity statement. [REVIEW]Joseph Simonian - 2004 - Foundations of Chemistry 7 (1):49-56.
    A puzzle for identity statements using massnouns, central to the expression of chemicaltypes, arises if one accepts that both `Wateris H2O' and `Ice is H2O' are identitystatements, since they jointly entail that`Water is ice'. The puzzle is resolved if itcan be shown that the `is' of such statementsis not the `is' of identity.
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  43. Explaining models: Theoretical and phenomenological models and their role for the first explanation of the hydrogen spectrum. [REVIEW]Torsten Wilholt - 2004 - Foundations of Chemistry 7 (2):149-169.
    Traditional nomological accounts of scientific explanation have assumed that a good scientific explanation consists in the derivation of the explanandum’s description from theory (plus antecedent conditions). But in more recent philosophy of science the adequacy of this approach has been challenged, because the relation between theory and phenomena in actual scientific practice turns out to be more intricate. This critique is here examined for an explanatory paradigm that was groundbreaking for 20th century physics and chemistry (and their interrelation): Bohr’s first (...)
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  44. Do you need to believe in orbitals to use them?: Realism and the autonomy of chemistry.Zack Jenkins - 2003 - Philosophy of Science 70 (5):1052-1062.
    Eric Scerri and other authors have acknowledged that the reality of chemical orbitals is not compatible with quantum mechanics. Recently, however, Scerri and Sharon Crasnow have argued that if chemists cannot consider orbitals as real entities, then chemistry is in danger of being reduced to physics. I argue that the question of the existence of orbitals is best viewed as an issue of explanation, not metaphysics: In many chemically important cases orbitals do not make sufficiently accurate predictions, and must be (...)
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  45. The atom in the chemistry curriculum: Fundamental concept, teaching model or epistemological obstacle?Keith S. Taber - 2003 - Foundations of Chemistry 5 (1):43-84.
    Research into learners' ideas aboutscience suggests that school and collegestudents often hold alternative conceptionsabout `the atom'. This paper discusses whylearners acquire ideas about atoms which areincompatible with the modern scientificunderstanding. It is suggested that learners'alternative ideas derive – at least in part –from the way ideas about atoms are presented inthe school and college curriculum. Inparticular, it is argued that the atomicconcept met in science education is anincoherent hybrid of historical models, andthat this explains why learners commonlyattribute to atoms properties (...)
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  46. Philosophy of chemistry in university chemical education: The case of models and modelling. [REVIEW]Rosária S. Justi & John K. Gilbert - 2002 - Foundations of Chemistry 4 (3):213-240.
    If chemistry is to be taught successfully, teachers must have a good subject matter knowledge (SK) of the ideas with which they are dealing, the nature of this falling within the orbit of philosophy of chemistry. They must also have a good pedagogic content knowledge (PCK), the ability to communicate SK to students, the nature of this falling within the philosophy and psychology of chemical education. Taking the case of models and modelling, important themes in the philosophy of chemistry, an (...)
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  47. (1 other version)The recently claimed observation of atomic orbitals and some related philosophical issues.Eric R. Scerri - 2001 - Proceedings of the Philosophy of Science Association 2001 (3):S76-.
    The main thrust of the paper involves a theoretical and philosophical analysis of the claim made in September 1999 that atomic orbitals have been directly imaged for the first time. After a brief account of the recent claims the paper reviews the development of the orbit and later orbital concepts and analyzes the theoretical status of atomic orbitals. The conclusion is that contrary to these claims, atomic orbitals have not in fact been observed. The non-referring nature of modern atomic orbitals (...)
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  48. (1 other version)The Recently Claimed Observation of Atomic Orbitals and Some Related Philosophical Issues.Eric R. Scerri - 2001 - Philosophy of Science 68 (S3):S76-S88.
    The main thrust of the paper involves a theoretical and philosophical analysis of the claim made in September 1999 that atomic orbitals have been directly imaged for the first time. After a brief account of the recent claims the paper reviews the development of the orbit and later orbital concepts and analyzes the theoretical status of atomic orbitals. The conclusion is that contrary to these claims, atomic orbitals have not in fact been observed. The non-referring nature of modern atomic orbitals (...)
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  49. Joachim Schummer, realismus und chemie: Philosophische untersuchungen der wissenschaft Von den stoffen. [REVIEW]Jeffry L. Ramsey - 2000 - Foundations of Chemistry 2 (1):79-84.
  50. Have orbitals really been observed?Eric R. Scerri - 2000 - Journal of Chemical Education 77:1492-1494.
    The article disputes the recent claim featured in "Nature" magazine and many other science magazines to the effect that atomic orbitals have been observed for the first time. The claim is incorrect in view of the unconvincing nature of the evidence adduced and since atomic orbitals are deemed unobservable in principle by quantum mechanics. In addition, the possible educational drawbacks of this incorrect claim are discussed.
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