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