Explaining the Chemical Bond: Idealisation and Concretisation

  • Hinne Hettema
Chapter
First Online:
Part of the European Studies in Philosophy of Science book series (ESPS, volume 7)

Abstract

In this chapter, I focus on the ‘chemical bond’ – the phenomenon of bonding between two atoms – as an example of potential Nagelian reduction. There are two main competing theories, the Molecular Orbital and the Valence Bond theory, which provide a view from quantum mechanics on the phenomenon of bonding. The efficacy of both theories can be compared. It is furthermore interesting that there are systemic ways in which these theories can be improved, leading to the same computational view on the phenomenon of bonding. This means that the resulting structure is an idealisation/concretisation pair.

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© Springer International Publishing AG 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Hinne Hettema
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of PhilosophyUniversity of AucklandAucklandNew Zealand

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