Hricko, Jonathon (2017) Scientific Rationality: Phlogiston as a Case Study. Rationality: Constraints and Contexts. pp. 37-59.
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Abstract
I argue that it was rational for chemists to eliminate phlogiston, but that it also would have been rational for them to retain it. I do so on the grounds that a number of prominent phlogiston theorists identified phlogiston with hydrogen in the late eighteenth century, and this identification became fairly well-entrenched by the early nineteenth century. In light of this identification, I critically evaluate Hasok Chang's argument that chemists should have retained phlogiston, and that doing so would have benefited science. I argue that these benefits would have been unlikely, and I go on to consider some more likely benefits and harms of retaining phlogiston. I conclude that there is a sense in which scientific rationality concerns what is permissible, as opposed to what is required, so that retention and elimination may, at least sometimes, both be rationally permissible options.
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| Item Type: | Published Article or Volume | ||||||
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| Keywords: | Scientific Rationality, Chemical Revolution, Phlogiston, Hydrogen, Humphry Davy | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Chemistry General Issues > History of Science Case Studies |
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| Depositing User: | Jonathon Hricko | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 08 Sep 2016 13:16 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 08 Sep 2016 13:16 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 12413 | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Rationality: Constraints and Contexts | ||||||
| Publisher: | Elsevier Academic Press | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Chemistry General Issues > History of Science Case Studies |
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| Date: | 2017 | ||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 37-59 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/12413 |
Available Versions of this Item
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Phlogiston as a Case Study of Scientific Rationality. (deposited 24 Sep 2014 14:10)
- Scientific Rationality: Phlogiston as a Case Study. (deposited 08 Sep 2016 13:16) [Currently Displayed]
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