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Conclusions: From Empiricism to Historicism to Naturalism and Beyond

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Chemistry Education and Contributions from History and Philosophy of Science

Part of the book series: Science: Philosophy, History and Education ((SPHE))

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Abstract

Over the last 100 years, philosophy of science has gone from empiricism to historicism to naturalism. Perhaps it is time to look at the horizon for alternatives and go beyond. Some science educators have suggested that historicism is dated. If we accept this advice, then we shall have to abandon the historical canon of chemistry (for that matter science in general) that integrates chemistry content with its historical development (Laudan, Beyond positivism and relativism: Theory, method and evidence. Boulder: Westview Press; 1996). It is this development that precisely shows how methodological pluralism (Gavroglu and Simões, Neither Physics nor Chemistry: A History of Quantum Chemistry. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press; 2012) facilitated different approaches for different problems in bond formation leading to the valence bond and molecular orbital theories. Pluralism itself is based on the possibility of a range of perspectives. Each of these perspectives may account for some but not all aspects of a problem. Pluralism of perspectives (Giere 2006a, b; Giere, Email to author dated March 19, 2014 after reading a preliminary version of Chapter 2, reproduced with permission; 2014) thus can provide one alternative to integrate historical reconstruction of a chemistry topic with alternative interpretations.

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  1. Epistemology of Science Group Department of Chemistry, Universidad de Oriente, Cumaná, Estado Sucre, Venezuela

    Mansoor Niaz

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Niaz, M. (2016). Conclusions: From Empiricism to Historicism to Naturalism and Beyond. In: Chemistry Education and Contributions from History and Philosophy of Science. Science: Philosophy, History and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26248-2_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26248-2_8

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