The many faces of chemistry from a philosophical perspective

OLIMPIA LOMBARDI

SCIENCE & EDUCATION (DORDRECHT)

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2017

0926-7220

On the basis of the reductionist assumption that prevailed during the 20thcentury, many people still think that chemistry does not have, and does not even need, a philosophy. In fact, once it is assumed that chemistry refers to the same ontological domain as physics, but from a macroscopic and merely practical way, the conclusion is straightforward: if chemistry has philosophical problems in some sense, then, when considered in depth, they are problems belonging to the philosophy of physics.That common opinion ignores the fact that, since the1990s, the philosophy of chemistry has become a very active and rapidly growing field of inquiry. The many works on the subject came together with the institutionalization of the discipline: the International Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry was established in 1997, and held annual academic meetings since then. At present, two specialized journals, Foundations of Chemistry and Hyle, are completely devoted to the field, and many books on philosophical issues specific to chemistry are available. The present volume is a recent example of this trend.The emergence of this new field of thought implies, in turn, a relevant consequence for the general philosophy of science, by unveiling one of its usually not acknowledged angles. The traditional philosophy of science, developed during the 20th century, was strongly modeled by physics, which, as a consequence, was presented as the paradigm of science,the model to be followed. This situation in the philosophy of science has had an immediate counterpart in chemical education: teachers and books were forced to explain specifically chemical phenomena in the context of an epistemological scheme imported from a different discipline. It is precisely for this reason that the matters discussed by the philosophy of chemistry are particularly relevant to chemistry teachers and researchers in chemistry education.In their book Essays in the Philosophy of Chemistry,Eric Scerri and Grant Fisher offer an excellent contribution to those interested in entering the exciting world of the philosophy of chemistry. The book contains a series of chapters that approach the subject from very different perspectives, showing the wide scope that the field has acquired at present. The book is organized in four parts. Part One takes a historical perspective, although always with a conceptual and philosophical background. Part Two addresses the problem of reduction and explanation, which is central in the philosophy of chemistry as it points to the relationships between chemistry and other scientific disciplines. Part Three is devoted to metaphysical questions, by analyzing the specificity of the categories and concepts that structure the chemical ontology. Part Four, finally, discusses the particular form that the relation between theory and practice acquires in chemistry. In the following paragraphs I will try to give a brief summary of the chapters with the purpose of supplying an overview useful to the reader.