2
Perceptions, Experiments
and Principles
Man is the measure of all things of things that are, that they are,
of things are not, that they are not.
Protagoras
Abstract
The hypothesis about the possible “anthropological” origins of physics and
chemistry is represented. It is argued how chemistry and physics have their
proto-origins in different kinds of the sense data: time and space on the one side,
and taste, colour, heat, smell, etc. on the other side. Physical way of thinking was
connected with senses of time and space, which can be measured, and
represented mathematically. The nature of other, more “soft” sense data is such
that measuring and any mathematical representation was in ancient science
impossible. Chemistry has appeared as an experimental skill of manipulation
with these qualities. This leads to the earliest philosophical ideas that are the
precursors of modern chemical concepts: element, principle, and change.
Keywords
Sciences and senses Á Sense data Á Origins of physics and chemistry Á Elements Á
Principles Á Elementary stuff Á System of four principles Á Transmutation of
elements Á Experiment-theory
Inspired by a questionable notion about the proper and non-proper sciences, we
have proposed the idea that the proto-origins of physics and chemistry could be in
the division of perceptions in those that can be analysed mathematically, and in
those, for which mathematical interpretation was not possible in the early history of
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
H. Vančik, Philosophy of Chemistry, Integrated Science 2,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69224-7_2
19
Perceptions, Experiments
and Principles
Man is the measure of all things of things that are, that they are,
of things are not, that they are not.
Protagoras
Abstract
The hypothesis about the possible “anthropological” origins of physics and
chemistry is represented. It is argued how chemistry and physics have their
proto-origins in different kinds of the sense data: time and space on the one side,
and taste, colour, heat, smell, etc. on the other side. Physical way of thinking was
connected with senses of time and space, which can be measured, and
represented mathematically. The nature of other, more “soft” sense data is such
that measuring and any mathematical representation was in ancient science
impossible. Chemistry has appeared as an experimental skill of manipulation
with these qualities. This leads to the earliest philosophical ideas that are the
precursors of modern chemical concepts: element, principle, and change.
Keywords
Sciences and senses Á Sense data Á Origins of physics and chemistry Á Elements Á
Principles Á Elementary stuff Á System of four principles Á Transmutation of
elements Á Experiment-theory
Inspired by a questionable notion about the proper and non-proper sciences, we
have proposed the idea that the proto-origins of physics and chemistry could be in
the division of perceptions in those that can be analysed mathematically, and in
those, for which mathematical interpretation was not possible in the early history of
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
H. Vančik, Philosophy of Chemistry, Integrated Science 2,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69224-7_2
19