‘If you cut a crumb in half do you have two new crumbs or two halves of a crumb?’
John Palmer, quoted in the Sunday Times, 28 June 2009, News Review, p. 16.
Abstract
Mereology is the logic of part—whole concepts as they are used in many different contexts. The old chemical metaphysics of atoms and molecules seems to fit classical mereology very well. However, when functional attributes are added to part specifications and quantum mechanical considerations are also added, the rules of classical mereology are breached in chemical discourses. A set theoretical alternative mereology is also found wanting. Molecular orbital theory requires a metaphysics of affordances that also stands outside classical mereology.
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Notes
It is worth remembering that Boyle’s famous book—`The Origine of Forms and Qualities’ is based on the principle that different structures manifest different emergent properties, e.g. his discussion of Glauber’s Salt.
Two reviewers of an early rough draft of this paper drew our attention to the importance of these distinctions in any discussion of chemical mereology.
Diatomic molecules consist of atoms of the same element in the Z-sense. Perhaps they are like the cattle grid of similar bars in contrast to the farm gate made of parts of different types..
Sand, as silicon dioxide, does not react chemically with the water and calcium silicate derivatives in concrete. Each silicon ion is surrounded by four oxygens in a repeated tetrahedral layout.
We are grateful to Joseph Earley for insights into dissipative `entities’.
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Harré, R., Llored, JP. Mereologies as the grammars of chemical discourses. Found Chem 13, 63–76 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10698-011-9103-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10698-011-9103-3