The place of chemistry in the metaphysics of science may be viewed as peripheral compared to physics and biology. However, a metaphysics of science that disregards chemistry would be incomplete and ill-informed. This Element establishes this claim by showing how key metaphysical issues are informed by drawing on chemistry. Five metaphysical topics are investigated: natural kinds, scientific realism, reduction, laws and causation. These topics are spelled out from the perspective of ten chemical case studies, each of which illuminates the novel ways that metaphysics of science can be informed by chemistry. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Author(s): Vanessa A. Seifert
Series: Elements in Metaphysics
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2023
Language: English
City: Cambridge
Cover
Title page
Copyright page
Chemistry’s Metaphysics
Contents
1 Introduction
2 Natural Kinds
Elements, Compounds, Acids and Macromolecules
2.1 Searching for a Unifying Property
Case I. Chemical Elements
Case II. Chemical Compounds
2.2 Natural or Artificial?
Case III. Acids
2.3 Functional Kinds
Case IV. Macromolecules
3 Realism and Reduction
Atoms, Phlogiston, Molecular Structure and Chemical Bonds
3.1 Realism in Chemistry
Case V. Atoms and Molecules
Case VI. Phlogiston
3.2 Chemistry’s Relation to Quantum Physics
Case VII. Molecular Structure
3.3 Unity and Realism, All in One
Case VIII. Chemical Bonds
4 Laws and Causes
Periodic Table and Chemical Reactions
4.1 Laws in Chemistry
Case IX. Periodic Table
4.2 Causation in Chemistry
Case X. Chemical Reactions
5 Conclusion
References
Acknowledgements
