The Position of Philosophy of Chemistry in Philosophy of Natural Sciences Cover Image

Miejsce filozofii chemii w filozofii przyrodoznawstwa
The Position of Philosophy of Chemistry in Philosophy of Natural Sciences

Author(s): Paweł Zeidler
Subject(s): Philosophy
Published by: Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL & Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II
Keywords: philosophy of chemistry; philosophy of natural sciences; new experimentalism; laboratory science; stability of laboratory science; reduction of chemistry to physics; laboratory realism; criteria of existence of theoretical entities; theoretical model

Summary/Abstract: The paper is focused on the role of philosophy of chemistry in the philosophy of natura sciences. The author claims that chemistry is a paradigmatic example of laboratory science in Ian Hacking’s sense. Therefore a philosophical and methodological analysis of chemistry can change or modify several theses of the philosophy of natural sciences. Some of them are as follows: the stability of laboratory science; the primacy of experimental practice over the theoretical one in chemistry; the problem of the reduction of chemistry to physics; the influence of scientific instruments on the growth of chemical knowledge; the problem of the empirical criteria of the existence of theoretical entities; the role of theoretical models and theoretical modelling in laboratory sciences; the problem of using the principle of inter-subjective testability in chemistry; the semiotic peculiarities of chemistry.

  • Issue Year: 54/2006
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 313-333
  • Page Count: 21
  • Language: Polish