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Linking chemistry with physics: arguments and counterarguments

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Abstract

The many-faced relationship between chemistry and physics is one of the most discussed topics in the philosophy of chemistry. In his recent book Reducing Chemistry to Physics. Limits, Models, Consequences, Hinne Hettema (Reducing chemistry to physics. Limits, models, consequences, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Groningen, 2012) conceives this relationship as a reduction link, and devotes his work to defend this position on the basis of a “naturalized” concept of reduction. In the present paper I critically review three kinds of issues stemming from Hettema’s argumentation: philosophical, scientific and methodological.

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Notes

  1. Here I will not discuss the traditional distinction between theoretical terms and observational terms, a distinction that was challenged not only by the so-called “new philosophy of science” (at present not new anymore), but also by the structuralist view of scientific theories that he himself seems to advocate.

  2. This answer to Needham’s (2006) non-sense objection was already given in Lombardi and Labarca (2006).

  3. These criticisms will not be considered here but will be discussed in a future work.

  4. Lombardi and Labarca (2006) also appeal to epistemic facts to find good arguments for supporting ontological claims, but in those epistemic facts they find support for ontological pluralism.

  5. It is interesting to point out that there is a structuralist reconstruction of quantum mechanics without this limitation in the works of Lastiri (2011, 2012).

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Acknowledgments

I want to thank all the participants of the Summer Symposium 2013 of the International Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry, held in Montevideo, Uruguay, for the stimulating discussions, and in particular to Lucía Lewowicz, the organizer of the event, for bringing the philosophy of chemistry to the Rio de la Plata. I want also express my special acknowledgement to Hinne Hettema for his good disposition in the debate, and his kind help in the language review of my text.

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  1. CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Olimpia Lombardi

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Lombardi, O. Linking chemistry with physics: arguments and counterarguments. Found Chem 16, 181–192 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10698-013-9197-x

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