ores, without the possibility to construct any general theory. Here we offer suggestion that these two groups of senses represent the background for the parallel
formation of the two scientific disciplines, physics and chemistry.
From the very beginning, physics (or better to say proto-physics) has been
connected to astronomical observations, which were interpreted by mathematical
representation with unequivocal formulas. Since with the starry sky is not possible
to do experiments till the appearance of modern science, experiment was not the
very traditional method in physics. In contrast, chemistry (or better to tell
proto-chemistry) has been based exclusively on experiment, the mastery of simulations of natural processes. Preparation of metal in the metallurgical oven could be
regarded as an emulation of the process which normally proceeds in the interior of
Earth [22]. In this way, the tradition of chemistry was initiated with the immediate
manipulation with the substance! Systematization of experimental perceptive
experience guided to the formation of a sort of abstraction that is not mathematical,
it is rather non-rational, and, as we will see later in the discussion about alchemy, it
is often open to quite another goal: the immersion of the experimenter in the deeper
esoteric levels of its own consciousness. However, these experiments, as a result of
the mastery of manipulation with substance, have contributed also to the real
practical world, they had also an operative or exoteric character. This ambiguity
between the esoteric and exoteric character or the proto-chemistry and alchemy has
for the long period in the history been one of the main reasons that chemistry was
not regarded as a serious science.
As I wish to demonstrate, chemistry and physics have different heritages for
which we could speculate that originated from the two groups of senses, which
were by their nature diverse and complementary. Yin and Yang, the mathematical
ratio and the experiment were two intellectual approaches that have constructed the
modern interpretation of the Universe. While physics creates abstractions of the
hardly imaginable forms of time and space, chemistry penetrates in the abstract
profundity of comprehension of the ontology of substance. Chemistry emerges on
the borderline between microcosm and macrocosm.
From the historical point of view, chemistry could even be regarded as an
authentic science because it has its own epistemic origin. One of the concerns
regarding the authenticity of chemistry is focused on the question of its ability to
formulate laws, at the least in the way as it is possible in physics [23]. The answer
on this objection could be possible only after we ascertain which is the nature of
laws in science. Is the possibility of mathematical formulation the only way to
formulate the scientific laws, or the laws could have also quite different modes of
description? First of all, it should be mentioned that some of concepts and laws,
which are today regarded as physical laws, originally appeared in chemistry. For
instance, the credit to the formulation of the law of conservation of mass should be
given to Lavoisier, because chemical experiments were in his time already enough
quantitative to serve as a convenient model for the immediate verification of this
principle. Quantitative investigation of the transformation of the precursor into the
product substance has been a relevant approach for testing this law.
14
1 Chemistry and Philosophy of Science
formation of the two scientific disciplines, physics and chemistry.
From the very beginning, physics (or better to say proto-physics) has been
connected to astronomical observations, which were interpreted by mathematical
representation with unequivocal formulas. Since with the starry sky is not possible
to do experiments till the appearance of modern science, experiment was not the
very traditional method in physics. In contrast, chemistry (or better to tell
proto-chemistry) has been based exclusively on experiment, the mastery of simulations of natural processes. Preparation of metal in the metallurgical oven could be
regarded as an emulation of the process which normally proceeds in the interior of
Earth [22]. In this way, the tradition of chemistry was initiated with the immediate
manipulation with the substance! Systematization of experimental perceptive
experience guided to the formation of a sort of abstraction that is not mathematical,
it is rather non-rational, and, as we will see later in the discussion about alchemy, it
is often open to quite another goal: the immersion of the experimenter in the deeper
esoteric levels of its own consciousness. However, these experiments, as a result of
the mastery of manipulation with substance, have contributed also to the real
practical world, they had also an operative or exoteric character. This ambiguity
between the esoteric and exoteric character or the proto-chemistry and alchemy has
for the long period in the history been one of the main reasons that chemistry was
not regarded as a serious science.
As I wish to demonstrate, chemistry and physics have different heritages for
which we could speculate that originated from the two groups of senses, which
were by their nature diverse and complementary. Yin and Yang, the mathematical
ratio and the experiment were two intellectual approaches that have constructed the
modern interpretation of the Universe. While physics creates abstractions of the
hardly imaginable forms of time and space, chemistry penetrates in the abstract
profundity of comprehension of the ontology of substance. Chemistry emerges on
the borderline between microcosm and macrocosm.
From the historical point of view, chemistry could even be regarded as an
authentic science because it has its own epistemic origin. One of the concerns
regarding the authenticity of chemistry is focused on the question of its ability to
formulate laws, at the least in the way as it is possible in physics [23]. The answer
on this objection could be possible only after we ascertain which is the nature of
laws in science. Is the possibility of mathematical formulation the only way to
formulate the scientific laws, or the laws could have also quite different modes of
description? First of all, it should be mentioned that some of concepts and laws,
which are today regarded as physical laws, originally appeared in chemistry. For
instance, the credit to the formulation of the law of conservation of mass should be
given to Lavoisier, because chemical experiments were in his time already enough
quantitative to serve as a convenient model for the immediate verification of this
principle. Quantitative investigation of the transformation of the precursor into the
product substance has been a relevant approach for testing this law.
14
1 Chemistry and Philosophy of Science