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Response to Vollmer's Review of Minds and Molecules

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Eric Scerri
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Abstract

I present a response to Vollmer's review of the book Of Minds and Molecules, and especially her comments on my own article therein. This provides an opportunity to discuss two central ideas in the philosophy of chemistry. These are the distinction between elements as simple substances (element-1) and elements as basic substances (element-2) and Paneth's proposed intermediate position for philosophy of chemistry. The response also discusses the question of isotopes in relationship to the nature of the elements and their classification as well as the philosophical status of atomic orbitals.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 70 , Issue 2 , April 2003 , pp. 391 - 398
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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References

Paneth, F.A., 1962, “The Epistemological Status of the Concept of Element,” translated by H.R. Post, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 13:1–14, 144–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scerri, Eric R. (2000), “Naive Realism, Reduction and the ‘Intermediate Position’”, in Bhushan, Nalini and Rosenfeld, Stuart (eds.), Of Minds and Molecules: New Philosophical Perspectives on Chemistry. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Scerri, Eric R. (2001), “The Recently Claimed Observation of Atomic Orbitals and Some Related Philosophical Issues”, Philosophy of Science 67 (Proceedings): S76–S88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vollmer, S.H. (2003), “The Philosophy of Chemistry Reformulating Itself: Nalni Bhushan and Stuart Rosenfeld’s Of Minds and Molecules: New Philosophical Perspectives on Chemistry”, The Philosophy of Chemistry Reformulating Itself: Nalni Bhushan and Stuart Rosenfeld’s Of Minds and Molecules: New Philosophical Perspectives on Chemistry 70:383–390.Google Scholar