Is Analytical Chemistry an autonomous field of science?

Summary Analytical Chemistry is an autonomous branch of science. It provides empirical meaning for chemical concepts, and it has a significant component of a science of the artificial within chemistry. Processes of sample analysis and model construction that are characteristic to Analytical Chemistry, inherently involve discovering of new objects and of deeply hidden regularities. This places the discipline at the frontier of research. Moreover, it is particularly beneficial for the methodology of science to study sample analysis and model construction using the examples from Analytical Chemistry. For the same reason the methodological self-reflection of a chemist-analyst can make an original contribution to our understanding of science as a whole.

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Analytische Chemie — autonomer Zweig der Wissenschaft?

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Presented at the First International Symposium on History and Philosophy in Analytical Chemistry, Vienna, November 22–23, 1985

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On leave of absence from the University of Warsaw, Poland