Philosophy
The discovery of oxygen.
Abstract:
Historians often feel that standard philosophical doctrines about the nature and development of science are not adequate for representing the real history of science. However, when philosophers of science fail to make sense of certain historical events, it is also possible that there is something wrong with the standard historical descriptions of those events, precluding any sensible explanation. If so, philosophical failure can be useful as a guide for improving historiography, and this constitutes a significant mode of productive interaction between the history and the philosophy of science. I illustrate this methodological claim through the case of the Chemical Revolution. I argue that no standard philosophical theory of scientific method can explain why European chemists made a sudden and nearly unanimous switch of allegiance from the phlogiston theory to Lavoisier’s theory. A careful re-examination of the history reveals that the shift was neither so quick nor so unanimous as imagined even by many historians. In closing I offer brief reflections on how best to explain the general drift toward Lavoisier’s theory that did take place.
"The Hidden History of Phlogiston" by Hasok Chang
- Philosophy Of Chemistry: Why Only Now?
Taught a class this semester on the philosophy of chemistry with a friend who is a physical chemist. (You can always tell the physical chemists, they're the one's with the bruises -- much tougher crowd than those chemists who don't get physical.)...
- Demarcation, Falsification, And Intelligent Design
Janet, over at Adventures in Ethics and Science, has a nice discussion going about intelligent design, the line between science and pseudoscience, and Karl Popper's criterion of falsificationism. According to Popper, a theory is scientific if and...
- "defending Einstein" Is Out!
I know, I know, after your summer beach reading, you're up to here with Hans Reichenbach's early writings on the theory of relativity... but for that hard to buy for philosophy of science geek on your Chirstams list... Hans Reichenbach was one...
- Richard Kirwan...last English Defender Of The "phlogiston Theory"
Richard Kirwan August 1st, 1733 to June 1st, 1812 Richard Kirwan was an "Irish chemist whose Elements of Mineralogy (1784), was the first English systematic treatment of the subject. He did valuable work on chemical affinity and the combining proportions...
- Antoine Laurent Lavoisier...dedicated Chemist
Another superb web site on a scientist--Antoine Lavoisier. Prime documents and web links are worth the study. But science is always a collective enterprise, and the parts of others, of predecessors, associates, and opponents, must be explained; here...
Philosophy
Chemistry historiography...the not so swift transition, as believed, from the phlogiston theory to Lavoisier’s theory
The discovery of oxygen.Abstract:
Historians often feel that standard philosophical doctrines about the nature and development of science are not adequate for representing the real history of science. However, when philosophers of science fail to make sense of certain historical events, it is also possible that there is something wrong with the standard historical descriptions of those events, precluding any sensible explanation. If so, philosophical failure can be useful as a guide for improving historiography, and this constitutes a significant mode of productive interaction between the history and the philosophy of science. I illustrate this methodological claim through the case of the Chemical Revolution. I argue that no standard philosophical theory of scientific method can explain why European chemists made a sudden and nearly unanimous switch of allegiance from the phlogiston theory to Lavoisier’s theory. A careful re-examination of the history reveals that the shift was neither so quick nor so unanimous as imagined even by many historians. In closing I offer brief reflections on how best to explain the general drift toward Lavoisier’s theory that did take place.
"The Hidden History of Phlogiston" by Hasok Chang
- Philosophy Of Chemistry: Why Only Now?
Taught a class this semester on the philosophy of chemistry with a friend who is a physical chemist. (You can always tell the physical chemists, they're the one's with the bruises -- much tougher crowd than those chemists who don't get physical.)...
- Demarcation, Falsification, And Intelligent Design
Janet, over at Adventures in Ethics and Science, has a nice discussion going about intelligent design, the line between science and pseudoscience, and Karl Popper's criterion of falsificationism. According to Popper, a theory is scientific if and...
- "defending Einstein" Is Out!
I know, I know, after your summer beach reading, you're up to here with Hans Reichenbach's early writings on the theory of relativity... but for that hard to buy for philosophy of science geek on your Chirstams list... Hans Reichenbach was one...
- Richard Kirwan...last English Defender Of The "phlogiston Theory"
Richard Kirwan August 1st, 1733 to June 1st, 1812 Richard Kirwan was an "Irish chemist whose Elements of Mineralogy (1784), was the first English systematic treatment of the subject. He did valuable work on chemical affinity and the combining proportions...
- Antoine Laurent Lavoisier...dedicated Chemist
Another superb web site on a scientist--Antoine Lavoisier. Prime documents and web links are worth the study. But science is always a collective enterprise, and the parts of others, of predecessors, associates, and opponents, must be explained; here...