Ontological tensions in sixteenth and seventeenth century chemistry: between mechanism and vitalism

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries marks a period of transition between the vitalistic ontology that had dominated Renaissance natural philosophy and the Early Modern mechanistic paradigm endorsed by, among others, the Cartesians and Newtonians. This paper will focus on how the tensions between vitalism and mechanism played themselves out in the context of sixteenth and seventeenth century chemistry and chemical philosophy, particularly in the works of Paracelsus, Jan Baptista Van Helmont, Robert Fludd, and Robert Boyle. Rather than argue that these natural philosophers each embraced either fully vitalistic or fully mechanistic ontologies, I hope to demonstrate that these thinkers adhered to complicated and nuanced ontologies that cannot be described in either purely vitalistic or purely mechanistic terms. A central feature of my argument is the claim that a corpuscularian theory of matter does not entail a strictly mechanistic and reductionistic account of chemical properties. I also argue that what marks the shift from pre-modern vitalistic chemical philosophy to the modern chemical philosophy that marked the Chemical Revolution is not the victory of mechanism and reductionism in chemistry but, rather, the shift to a physicalistic and naturalistic account of chemical properties and vital spirits.     

Margaret Cavendish's materialist critique of van Helmontian chymistry

A striking omission in the scholarship on the reception of the chymical philosophy of Jan Baptista van Helmont in England in the seventeenth century is the work of the mid-seventeenth-century natural philosopher Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle. In her Philosophical Letters (1664), Cavendish offers an extended critique of Van Helmont's work (whose Ortus Medicince had recently been translated into English by John Sadler). In this paper, I compare Cavendish's criticisms with those of Robert Boyle in his Sceptical Chymist (1661). Both Boyle and Cavendish attacked Van Helmont for the obscurity of his chymical vocabulary and concepts, and attacked his seminalism. Although their critiques had much in common, they diverged in their attitudes to Van Helmont's experiments. As an opponent of the experimental philosophy, Cavendish had little interest in the quality of Van Helmont's experimental claims, whereas Boyle was critical of their unreplicability. I also try to show that the two writers had very different polemical agendas, with Boyle defending his vision of chymistry based on a corpuscularian natural philosophy, and Cavendish being as much concerned with establishing her religious orthodoxy as with defending the truth claims of her own materialist vitalism. For Cavendish, Van Helmont was an example of the dangers of mingling theology and natural philosophy.     

Chemical elements and the problem of universals

In this paper, I explore a seldom-recognized connection between the ontology of abstract objects and a current issue in the philosophy of chemistry. Specifically, I argue that realism with regard to universals implies a view of chemical elements similar to F.A. Paneth’s thesis about the dual nature of the concept of element.     

波义耳微粒哲学与道尔顿原子论之比较

波义耳微粒哲学与道尔顿原子论是原子论思想发展历程上的两种具有代表性的理论,通过对比二者的思想基础及其时代动因、方法论基础以及对万物本原、物质层次和物质变化原因等的解释,可以发现思想基础在一定程度上决定着科学理论发展的进路,科学进步亦显示时代的发展。     

Between Grocers and Physicians: Pharmacists,the new Chemistry,and Institutional Reforms in Bologna during the Napoleonic Period

Abstract

This article argues that the chemical and physiological experiments undertaken by the natural philosopher Stephen Hales (1677–1761) constituted a reformulation of providential matter theory. Hales was responding to a continuing debate about the position of chaos in the natural world between Newtonians like Samuel Clarke, who posited chaos as oppositional to immediate providential direction, and those such as John Ray and Bernard Nieuwentyt, who argued that nature was a chaos of operations, organised by divinely endowed but innate principles. Vegetable Staticks (1727) represents an attempted solution, arguing that a chaos of operations could support life only if it was concurrent with God's direction. Subsequently criticised by the Irish theologian Peter Browne for indulging frivolity, Hales responded in Haemastatics (1733) by auditing how spirituous liquor precipitated a bodily disintegration from the chaos of operations into a destructive chaos. Hales’ subsequent campaign against spirits should be read as an extension of his experimental philosophy as a moral tool.     

What theoretical and/or chemical significance is to be attached to the magnitude of an activation energy determined for a solid-state decomposition?

This critical survey argues that the theory, conventionally used to interpret kinetic data measured for thermal reactions of initially solid reactants, is not always suitable for elucidating reaction chemistry and mechanisms or for identifying reactivity controls. Studies of solid-state decompositions published before the 1960s usually portrayed the reaction rate as determined by Arrhenius type models closely related to those formulated for homogeneous rate processes, though scientific justifications for these parallels remained incompletely established. Since the 1960s, when thermal analysis techniques were developed, studies of solid-state decompositions contributed to establishment of the new experimental techniques, but research interest became redirected towards increasing the capabilities of automated equipment to collect, to store and later to analyze rate changes for selected reactions. Subsequently, much less attention has been directed towards chemical features of the rate processes studied, which have included a range of reactants that is much more diverse than the simple solid-state reactions with which early thermokinetic studies were principally concerned. Moreover, the theory applied to these various reactants does not recognize the possible complexities of behaviour that may include mechanisms involving melting and/or concurrent/consecutive reactions, etc. The situation that has arisen following, and attributable to, the eclipse of solid-state decomposition studies by thermal analysis, is presented here and the consequences critically discussed in a historical context. It is concluded that methods currently used for kinetic and mechanistic investigations of all types of thermal reactions indiscriminately considered by the same, but inadequate theory, are unsatisfactory. Urgent and fundamental reappraisal of the theoretical foundations of thermokinetic chemical studies is now necessary and overdue. While there are important, but hitherto unrecognized, delusions in thermokinetic methods and theories, an alternative theoretical explanation that accounts for many physical and chemical features of crystolysis reactions has been proposed. However, this novel but general model for the thermal behaviour and properties of solids has similarly remained ignored by the thermoanalytical community. The objective of this article is to emphasize the now pressing necessity for an open debate between these unreconciled opinions of different groups of researchers. The ethos of science is that disagreement between rival theories can be resolved by experiment and/or discussion, which may also strengthen the foundations of the subject in the process. As pointed out below, during recent years there has been no movement towards attempting to resolve some fundamental differences of opinion in a field that lacks an adequate theory. This should be unacceptable to all concerned. Here some criticisms are made of specific features of the alternative reaction models available with the stated intention of provoking a debate that might lead to identification of the significant differences between the currently irreconciled views. This could, of course, attract the displeasure of both sides, who will probably criticise me severely. Because I intend to retire completely from this field soon, it does not matter to me if I am considered to be ‘wrong’, if it contributes to us all eventually agreeing to get the science ‘right’.     

On the Relationship Between Instrument and Specimen in Chemical Research

Based on the design of many modern chemical instruments, information about a specimen is retrieved after the specimen undergoes agitation, manipulation and disturbance of its internal state. But can we retain the traditional ideal that instruments should reveal properties that are definable independently of all modes of detection? In this paper I argue that the capacity of chemical instruments to convert experimental phenomena to information places constraints on the way in which the specimen is characterized. During research, the specimen is defined by those properties which permit its detection. Based on modern instrumentation, this constraint necessitates a conception of the specimen as a reactive system of dynamical properties. The dream of a purely transparent detection process violates the design of chemical instruments. This mutual dependence of instrument and specimen is illustrated by empirical studies of the geometrical configuration of DNA.     

Chemistry and dynamics in the thought of G.W. Leibniz I

Chemistry and dynamics are closely related in G.W. Leibniz's thinking, from the corpuscularism of his youth to the theory of conspiracy movements that he proposes in his later years. Despite the importance of chemistry and chemical thought in Leibniz's philosophy, interpreters have not paid enough attention to this subject, especially in the recent decades. This work aims to contribute to filling this gap in Leibnizian studies. In this first part of the work I will expose the theory of matter that the young Leibniz conceives under the influence of chemical corpuscularism. Leibniz uses R. Boyle's interpretation of the Aristotelian idea of form in order to give an explanation of the unity and cohesion of bodies. As opposed to the Cartesians, Leibniz puts forth the idea of a dependence between the variables of extension, movement and figure, without losing analytical clarity and with the aim of extending the explanatory power of physics to natural phenomena difficult to approach by Cartesian mechanics.

     

Chemistry,a lingua philosophica

We analyze the connections of Lavoisier system of nomenclature with Leibniz’s philosophy, pointing out to the resemblance between what we call Leibnizian and Lavoisian programs. We argue that Lavoisier’s contribution to chemistry is something more subtle, in so doing we show that the system of nomenclature leads to an algebraic system of chemical sets. We show how Döbereiner and Mendeleev were able to develop this algebraic system and to find new interesting properties for it. We pointed out the resemblances between Leibniz program and Lavoisier legacy, particularly regarding the lingua philosophica for understanding and thinking Nature, in this particular case, chemistry. In the second part we discuss, from the linguistic viewpoint, how Lavoisian algebraic system may be taken further to build a language. We study the constituents of such a chemical language. Finally, we formalize some of the ideas here presented by using elements of network theory and discrete mathematics.     

Gestalt Switch in Molecular Image Perception: The Aesthetic Origin of Molecular Nanotechnology in Supramolecular Chemistry

According to ‘standard histories’ of nanotechnology, the colorful pictures of atoms produced by scanning probe microscopists since the 1980s essentially inspired visions of molecular nanotechnology. In this paper, I provide an entirely different account that, nonetheless, refers to aesthetic inspiration, First, I argue that the basic idea of molecular nanotechnology, i.e., producing molecular devices, has been the goal of supramolecular chemistry that emerged earlier, without being called nanotechnology. Secondly, I argue that in supramolecular chemistry the production of molecular devices was inspired by an aesthetic phenomenon of gestalt switch, by certain images that referred to both molecules and ordinary objects, and thus symbolically bridged the two worlds. This opened up a new way of perceiving and drawing molecular images and new approaches to chemical synthesis. Employing Umberto Eco’s semiotic theory of aesthetics, I analyze the gestalt switch and the inspiration to build molecular devices and to develop a new sign language for supramolecular chemistry. More generally, I argue that aesthetic phenomena can play an important role in directing scientific research and that aesthetic theories can help understand such dynamics, such that they need to be considered in philosophy of science.     

当前和下一代锂离子电池电解液的原子尺度微观认识和研究进展

电解液及构筑电极电解液界面对于开发和应用高比容量储能系统至关重要。具体来说，电解液的机械（抗压性、粘度）、热（热导率和热容）、化学（溶解性、活度、反应性）、输运和电化学（界面及界面层）等性质，与其所组成的储能器件的性能直接相关。目前，大量的实验研究通过调控电解液的物理和/或化学组成来改善电解液性能，以满足新型电极材料的工作运行。与此同时，理论模拟方法近年来得到了迅速发展，使人们可以从原子尺度来理解电解液在控制离子输运和构筑功能化界面的作用。站在理论模拟研究的前沿上，人们可以利用其所揭示的机理性认识对新型电解液开展理性设计。本文首先总结了传统电解液的组成、溶剂化结构和输运性质以及电极电解液界面层的形成机理，进一步讨论了利用新型电解液设计稳定电极电解液界面层的方法，包括使用电解液添加剂、高浓电解液和固态电解质，并着重讨论了对这些新型电解液体系进行原子尺度模拟的最新进展，为了解和认识电解液提供更为基本的理解，并为未来电解液的设计提供系统的指导。最后，作者对新型电解液的理论筛选进行了展望。     

Philosophy of chemistry as intercultural philosophy: Jaap van Brakel

After a brief biography of Jaap van Brakel we set out his appropriation and use of the distinction between the manifest image and the scientific image of the world. In a certain sense van Brakel gives priority to the manifest image as the ultimate source of meaning in chemical discourses. He does not take sides in the debate about nominal and real essences, twin earths and so, but presents a compromise. As an active practitioner of the chemical arts he emphasises the indispensability of models as a main tool for chemical thinking. We then turn to van Brakel’s interest in forging an intercultural point of view in which philosophy of chemistry plays an important part.     

SOME PRESUPPOSITIONS IN THE METAPHYSICS OF CHEMICAL REACTIONS

The project of chemistry to classify substances and develop techniques for their transformation into other substances rests on assumptions about the means by which compounds are constituted and reconstituted. Robert Boyle not only proposed empirical tests for a metaphysics of material corpuscules, but also a principle for designing experimental procedures in line with that metaphysics. Later chemists added activity concepts to the repertoire. The logic of activity explanations in modern times involves hierarchies of activity concepts, transitions between levels through non-dispositional groundings. Such hierarchies terminate in powerful particulars, such as elementary charged particles. Do these have a fundamental place in the most recent accounts of molecular architecture, stabilities and transformations? However, a close study of the contemporary chemistry of substances transforming reactions discloses a hybrid metaphysics, making use of both the Boylean corpuscles and Faradayan fields. This is illustrated by an analysis of the metaphysics inherent in John Polanyi’s use of “chemoluminescence” to follow the formation of products in chemical reactions. A brief sketch of a resolution of the tension between the two metaphysical schemes is drawn from Niels Bohr’s radical metaphysics extended from the quantum realm proper to chemistry (and perhaps beyond).     

Connecting the philosophy of chemistry,green chemistry,and moral philosophy

This paper aims to connect philosophy of chemistry, green chemistry, and moral philosophy. We first characterize chemistry by underlining how chemists: (1) co-define chemical bodies, operations, and transformations; (2) always refer to active and context-sensitive bodies to explain the reactions under study; and (3) develop strategies that require and intertwine with a molecular whole, its parts, and the surroundings at the same time within an explanation. We will then point out how green chemists are transforming their current activities in order to act upon the world without jeopardizing life. This part will allow us to highlight that green chemistry follows the three aforementioned characteristics while including the world as a partner, as well as biodegradability and sustainability concerns, into chemical practices. In the third part of this paper, we will show how moral philosophy can help green chemists: (1) identify the consequentialist assumptions that ground their reasoning; and (2) widen the scope of their ethical considerations by integrating the notion of care and that of vulnerability into their arguments. In the fourth part of the paper, we will emphasize how, in return, this investigation could help philosophers querying consequentialism as soon as the consequences of chemical activities over the world are taken into account. Furthermore, we will point out how the philosophy of chemistry provides philosophers with new arguments concerning the key debate about the ‘intrinsic value’ of life, ecosystems and the Earth, in environmental ethics. To conclude, we will highlight how mesology, that is to say the study of ‘milieux’, and the concept of ‘ecumeme’ proposed by the philosopher and geographer Augustin Berque, could become important both for green chemists and moral philosophers in order to investigate our relationships with the Earth.     

Chemical substances and the limits of pluralism

In this paper I investigate the relationship between vernacular kind terms and specialist scientific vocabularies. Elsewhere I have developed a defence of realism about the chemical elements as natural kinds. This defence depends on identifying the epistemic interests and theoretical conception of the elements that have suffused chemistry since the mid-eighteenth century. Because of this dependence, it is a discipline-specific defence, and would seem to entail important concessions to pluralism about natural kinds. I argue that making this kind of concession does not imply that vernacular kind terms have independent application conditions. Nor does it preclude us saying that chemists, with their particular epistemic interests, have discovered the underlying nature of water, the stuff that is named and thought about in accordance with the practical interests of everyday life. There are limits to pluralism.     

Paneth’s epistemology of chemical elements in light of Kant’s Opus postumum

Friedrich Paneth’s conception of “chemical element” has functioned as the official definition adopted by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry since 1923. Paneth maintains a distinction between empirical and “transcendental” concepts of element; furthermore, chemical science requires fluctuation between the two. The origin of the empirical-transcendental split is found in Immanuel Kant’s classic Critique of Pure Reason (1781/1787). The present paper examines Paneth’s foundational concept of element in light of Kant’s attempt, late in life, to revoke key distinctions made in his Critique, including that of regulative and constitutive functions of reason. In a section of his Opus postumum devoted to the “Transition from the Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science to Physics,” Kant bends his philosophical system to address the newly emerging sciences of matter of his time. Specifically, he tried, without success, to develop the transcendental ground for microscale motions of bodies encountered in physical, electrical and chemical processes. Paneth’s discussion of chemical element does not take the Opus postumum into account, which is why it begins with a rejection of Kant’s rejection (in his earlier writings) of chemistry’s status as science. I make the case that Paneth’s definition of element effectively maintains something very like Kant’s critical separation of regulative and constitutive principles, while a advancing the concept of chemical science.     

Chain reactions, “impossible” reactions,and panenmentalist possibilities

Panenmentalist possibilities are individual pure possibilities existing independently of any mind, actual reality, and possible-world conception. These possibilities are a priori accessible to our intellect and imagination. In this paper, I attempt to shed some panenmentalist light on the discovery of chemical branched chain reactions and its implications on biology and cancer research. I also examine the case of the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction which, at first, was believed to be impossible. Finally, I proceed to examine through a panenmentalist lens Szilard’s discovery of the possibility of physical chain reactions and Mullis’s discovery of a polymerase chain reaction. All these major actual discoveries clearly depend on the discovery of the relevant panenmentalist possibilities and the ways in which they relate to one another.     

Autocatalyses

Autocatalysis is a fundamental concept, used in a wide range of domains. From the most general definition of autocatalysis, that is, a process in which a chemical compound is able to catalyze its own formation, several different systems can be described. We detail the different categories of autocatalyses and compare them on the basis of their mechanistic, kinetic, and dynamic properties. It is shown how autocatalytic patterns can be generated by different systems of chemical reactions. With the notion of autocatalysis covering a large variety of mechanistic realizations with very similar behaviors, it is proposed that the key signature of autocatalysis is its kinetic pattern expressed in a mathematical form.     

Inside Solomon’s House: An Archaeological Study of the Old Ashmolean Chymical Laboratory in Oxford

Abstract

This paper is based on the archaeological and analytical study of the laboratory remains from the Officina Chimica of the Old Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Following a contextualisation of this laboratory, founded in the wake of Bacon’s utopian idea of Solomon’s Temple, it is argued that the assemblage is likely to date from the late seventeenth century and thus be connected to the work of Robert Plot, Christopher White, and, indirectly, Robert Boyle. The analytical study of the equipment reveals that the chymists at the Old Ashmolean obtained crucibles from the best manufacturers in Europe, and that they used these and other utensils for experiments involving mercury, sulphur, zinc, lead glass, manganese, and antimony. The importance of these elements for early modern chymistry is discussed in the light of relevant historical sources, including some of Boyle’s chymical texts. Altogether, these finds illustrate some of the rich diversity of experiments that took place in one of the most prominent laboratories of the period, showing strong connections with longstanding alchemical concerns as well as with cutting-edge research and development ventures.