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This article was downloaded by: [University of New Hampshire]On: 07 October 2014, At: 22:48Publisher: Taylor & FrancisInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Annals of SciencePublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tasc20
Collected Papers on the Philosophy ofChemistryArie Leegwatera
a Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Calvin College,Grand Rapids, MI 49546, USA.Published online: 03 Oct 2011.
To cite this article: Arie Leegwater (2013) Collected Papers on the Philosophy of Chemistry, Annalsof Science, 70:4, 567-568, DOI: 10.1080/00033790.2011.564299
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00033790.2011.564299
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ERIC R. SCERRI, Collected Papers on the Philosophy of Chemistry. London: Imperial
College Press, 2008. x�235 pp. $95/£56. ISBN-13: 978-1-84816-137-5.
ERIC R. SCERRI, Selected Papers on the Periodic Table. London: Imperial College
Press, 2009. ix�143 pp. US $88/£66. ISBN-13: 978-1-84816-425-3.
Once when advising an entering college student, some years ago, as to his proper
placement in my college’s array of chemistry courses I asked what previous exposure
to chemistry he had had. Upon seeing the inside cover of an introductory chemistry
textbook which displayed a periodic table he blurted: ‘I have covered that’. If only
chemical reality were that simple and uncomplicated.Both of the books under review comprise collections of papers by Eric R. Scerri, a
leading philosopher of chemistry, in fact, known widely as one of the founders of the
sub-discipline. Scerri is also author of a recent widely acclaimed book on the periodic
table, The Periodic Table, Its Story and Its Significance (New York, 2007). He serves
as editor-in-chief of Foundations in Chemistry, the premier journal in the field.
Presently he is a lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at
UCLA.Scerri’s broad diversity of articles introduces us to a plethora of questions which
are examined in a historical and philosophical manner. Is the periodic table an
arrangement based on elements reflecting their macroscopic properties? Or is the
periodic table a microscopic account of neutral isolated atoms, the focus of atomic
physicists? Or is it perhaps a display of bonded atoms, the chemists’ major concern?
Should we opt for a left-step periodic table which places helium with the alkaline earth
metals rather than the traditional linkage to the noble gases? Does the existence of
atomic number triads in the periodic table lend support to a deeper, more
fundamental, quantum mechanical reduction of chemistry?
The Collected Papers on the Philosophy of Chemistry (CP) volume provides an in-
depth examination of Scerri’s more philosophical and historical work in philosophy
of chemistry from 1994 until 2007. After an introduction to the papers, the book is
divided, as Gaul, into three parts:
1. Philosophy of Chemistry and the Question of Reduction:
k The Case for Philosophy of Chemistry
k Prediction of the Nature of Hafnium from Chemistry, Bohr’s Theory and
Quantum Theoryk Has Chemistry Been at Least Approximately Reduced to Quantum
Mechanics?
k Reduction and Emergence in Chemistry
2. The Periodic Table, Electronic Configurations and the Nature of the Elements:
k Has the Periodic Table Been Successfully Axiomatized?
k The Periodic Table: The Ultimate Paper Tool in Chemistry
k Naive Realism, Reduction and the ‘Intermediate Position’
k How Ab Inito is Ab Initio Quantum Chemistry? Foundations of Chemistryk Some Aspects of the Metaphysics of Chemistry and the Nature of the
Elements
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Two overriding issues frame the discussion: (1) is chemistry reducible to physics?
And, (2) what is the meaning or ontological significance of the adjective ‘periodic’ in
our usual graphical representation of the chemical elements? The chemistry
elaborated is conceptual chemistry*attuned to theoretical chemistry and mathema-
tical chemistry. Scerri admits as much: from his youth onwards he has been ‘in love’
with chemical ideas rather than chemical experimental manipulations. Readers
interested in synthetic chemical strategies or in determining reaction mechanisms and
dynamics need read no further. As the introductions to both books make abundantly
clear there is an autobiographical tenor present: one can follow Scerri’s fluid and
shifting (back and forth) views on the reality or non-reality of atomic orbitals or his
musings on different pedagogical strategies in chemical education as one moves in
chronological order through a series of papers. The philosophical trend in Scerri’s
thought is from a normative view to a more pragmatic naturalist view (CP, p. 216).
This development, though necessarily incomplete, leads Scerri to suggest this
paradox: that chemistry is an autonomous science which at the same time rests on
fundamental physics. The autobiographical character of both books should not
irritate the reader. Rather it enlivens the discussion. One can see Scerri exploring
different points of view concerning the arrangement of elements in the periodic table
while in conversation with philosophers, chemical educators and practicing physical
scientists.
The second volume containing 10 Selected Papers on the Periodic Table (SP) is an
assemblage of articles written for vastly different audiences from 1991 to 2009. To
highlight only the extremes: one paper was published in the International Journal of
Quantum Chemistry while two others are from American Scientist. Two other papers
were published in philosophy of science journals. Topically the collection ranges from
Dimitri Mendeleev’s legacy, the periodic table and its optimal form, an analysis of the
dual sense of the term ‘element’, the derivation of the Madelung Rule to Scerri’s view
of ab initio quantum chemistry. Truly, it represents a rather impressive range of
topics.For those who wish to gain entry into the philosophy of chemistry and
understand some of its nuances and recent developments, these two volumes provide
an effective and convenient introduction. For those involved in teaching chemistry
these books provide an argument not for less use of philosophy in understanding
chemical educational issues, but for a more careful and informed use. Although both
books are unfortunately extremely expensive, readers do get their money’s worth.
ARIE LEEGWATER, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry,
Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI 49546, USA. Email: [email protected]
# 2013 Arie Leegwater
3. Realism and Anti-Realism, and Educational Issues in Philosophy of Chemistry:
k Constructivism, Relativism and Chemistry
k The Recently Claimed Observation of Atomic Orbitals and Some Related
Philosophical Issuesk Normative and Descriptive Philosophy of Science and the Role of
Chemist
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