especially in the philosophy of Heraclitus where the fire is a basic element. In
contrast to water, air, and earth, fire is an elusive principle of change. The event of
fire is irreversible, in the same way as it is every living system far from any
equilibrium. The change has its beginning and its end, and a world is nothing more
than juxtaposition of changes, rather than composition of objects. This philosophy
and metaphysics has been resurrected in the first half of last century by Alfred
North Whitehead [2]. Aristotelian transmutations of elements include the change,
jimηri1 (kinesis), and movement akkoixri1 (aloisis, aloisia) in the focus of
speculations about substance. Ancient chemical ideas have their origin in the
Aristotelian discussion about creation and disappearance. New created substance
could be either composition rtmheri1 (synthesis) the mixture, or lini1 (mixis), the
substance which we know as a chemical compound. The statement that the interaction between the substances is possible only if one of them is active, and the other
is passive, is the first antecedent of the chemical dualism developed in nineteenth
century by Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848) who afforded that only different
atoms can be bound to each other. In the Platonic philosophy the origins of changes
are discussed more generally, as consequences of inhomogeneity.
Experiment as the exclusive approach to explanation of elements, structure, and
dynamics of matter appears in the antiquity only in its undefined forms. This
method did not arise from philosophy, but from everyday practice, from handicrafts
as well as from the mystique of rituals. Smiths and physicians were among the
closest to experiment. Preparation of metals in furnaces of smitheries and foundries
has been considered as a mimic of occurrences that appear in the Earth’s interior,
rather than in heavens. Furnace or vessel, as Earth in small, were in the focus of
interest. Everything is occurring in the centre of some instrument, in medio centri,
but the results of most of the processes were uncertain. To obtain the expected
substance, metal, or medicine, the trial, the mastery, have to be repeated many
times. Observations were focused on colour, heat, volatility, solubility, softness or
taste. Evidently, here is no place for determinism, arithmetic, or geometry.
2.1 Conclusions
The appearance of particular sciences, such as physics and chemistry, has its
anthropological origin in the nature of the sense data. Physics has emerged from the
senses of time and space, the categories that can be measured and analyzed
mathematically. Consequently, this science has developed the general theoretical
representation of the Universe. In contrast, chemistry has appeared from the sense
data of color, smell or heat, the data which were at the time not measurable. Rather,
these sense data are related to the real practical manipulation with the substance.
Chemistry has appeared as an experimental practice which can immediately
transform the matter. Concepts about the universe, which emerged from such
manipulation with substance are of general and philosophical importance: element,
principle, and change.
28
2 Perceptions, Experiments and Principles
contrast to water, air, and earth, fire is an elusive principle of change. The event of
fire is irreversible, in the same way as it is every living system far from any
equilibrium. The change has its beginning and its end, and a world is nothing more
than juxtaposition of changes, rather than composition of objects. This philosophy
and metaphysics has been resurrected in the first half of last century by Alfred
North Whitehead [2]. Aristotelian transmutations of elements include the change,
jimηri1 (kinesis), and movement akkoixri1 (aloisis, aloisia) in the focus of
speculations about substance. Ancient chemical ideas have their origin in the
Aristotelian discussion about creation and disappearance. New created substance
could be either composition rtmheri1 (synthesis) the mixture, or lini1 (mixis), the
substance which we know as a chemical compound. The statement that the interaction between the substances is possible only if one of them is active, and the other
is passive, is the first antecedent of the chemical dualism developed in nineteenth
century by Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848) who afforded that only different
atoms can be bound to each other. In the Platonic philosophy the origins of changes
are discussed more generally, as consequences of inhomogeneity.
Experiment as the exclusive approach to explanation of elements, structure, and
dynamics of matter appears in the antiquity only in its undefined forms. This
method did not arise from philosophy, but from everyday practice, from handicrafts
as well as from the mystique of rituals. Smiths and physicians were among the
closest to experiment. Preparation of metals in furnaces of smitheries and foundries
has been considered as a mimic of occurrences that appear in the Earth’s interior,
rather than in heavens. Furnace or vessel, as Earth in small, were in the focus of
interest. Everything is occurring in the centre of some instrument, in medio centri,
but the results of most of the processes were uncertain. To obtain the expected
substance, metal, or medicine, the trial, the mastery, have to be repeated many
times. Observations were focused on colour, heat, volatility, solubility, softness or
taste. Evidently, here is no place for determinism, arithmetic, or geometry.
2.1 Conclusions
The appearance of particular sciences, such as physics and chemistry, has its
anthropological origin in the nature of the sense data. Physics has emerged from the
senses of time and space, the categories that can be measured and analyzed
mathematically. Consequently, this science has developed the general theoretical
representation of the Universe. In contrast, chemistry has appeared from the sense
data of color, smell or heat, the data which were at the time not measurable. Rather,
these sense data are related to the real practical manipulation with the substance.
Chemistry has appeared as an experimental practice which can immediately
transform the matter. Concepts about the universe, which emerged from such
manipulation with substance are of general and philosophical importance: element,
principle, and change.
28
2 Perceptions, Experiments and Principles