Abstract
In this paper I first point out the pluralist constitution of science in general and of chemistry in particular and then argue that it is inevitable for epistemological reasons. Once methodological pluralism is accepted, many mainstream philosophical debates that are based on methodological monism become futile, of which I discuss “laws of nature”, “reductionism”, and “scientific realism”. That shifts philosophical debates to more useful issues, such as the methodology of models, improving interdisciplinarity, and forms of philosophical realism that are institutionalized in scientific practice. I conclude that pluralism is the better way of doing and understanding science.
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Notes
- 1.
If the truth conditions of a theory consist in all sentences that can possibly be deduced from the theory plus specific assumptions, as a standard view maintains, that would amount to all its possible explanations (postdictions) and predictions. Yet, “scientific realism” wants a theory to be more, making truth an obscure notion.
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Schummer, J. (2015). The Methodological Pluralism of Chemistry and Its Philosophical Implications. In: Scerri, E., McIntyre, L. (eds) Philosophy of Chemistry. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 306. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9364-3_5
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