Lombardi, Olimpia and Labarca, Martín (2004) The Ontological Autonomy of the Chemical World. [Preprint]

Microsoft Word (.doc) Ontological_Autonomy.doc Download (169kB)

Abstract

In the problem of the relationship between chemistry and physics, many authors take for granted the ontological reduction of the chemical world to the world of physics. The autonomy of chemistry is usually defended on the basis of the failure of epistemological reduction: not all chemical concepts and laws can be derived from the theoretical framework of physics. The main aim of this paper is to argue that this line of argumentation is not strong enough for eliminate the idea of a hierarchical dependence of chemistry with respect to physics. The rejection of the secondary position of chemistry and the defense of the legitimacy of the philosophy of chemistry require a radically different philosophical perspective that denies not only epistemological reduction but also ontological reduction. Only on the basis of a philosophically grounded ontological pluralism it is possible to accept the ontological autonomy of the chemical world and, with this, to reverse the traditional idea of the ‘superiority’ of physics in the context of natural sciences.

---

Export/Citation:

EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL

Social Networking:

Share |

---

Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Lombardi, Olimpia Labarca, Martín
Keywords:	Autonomy of Chemistry, Reductionism, Ontological Pluralism
Subjects:	General Issues > Reductionism/Holism Specific Sciences > Chemistry
Depositing User:	Martín Gabriel Labarca
Date Deposited:	12 Jul 2004
Last Modified:	07 Oct 2010 15:12
Item ID:	1826
Subjects:	General Issues > Reductionism/Holism Specific Sciences > Chemistry
Date:	May 2004
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/1826

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item