chemistry to physics. The hypothesis about the possible “anthropological” origins
of physics and chemistry, as well as the first philosophical ideas that are the precursors of chemical concepts, is a scope of the second lecture. Among the central
concepts in this consideration are the problems of element, principle, and change.
Third and fourth lectures are dedicated to the first appearance of chemistry, the
Alexandrian proto-chemistry, and alchemy. The practice of experimentation that
has appeared in Hellenism is considered as an origin of chemistry, and as the
predecessor of Arabian and European alchemy. Scientific revolution in Enlightenment, mechanical philosophy, new approach in scientific education, and internationalization-“objectification” of science is in the focus of the fifth lecture, with
the intention to explain how the relationship between scientific practice and education is bidirectional: as science should be in the base of education, conversely, the
educational methods provide special requirements to science to be organized in a
specific way. The sixth lecture is focused on the importance of the choice of the
investigating models, and how this model selection is critical for the formation
of the new scientific paradigm. I demonstrate how the selection of combustion
process as a model for the investigation of chemical changes led to the formation
of the first chemical theory, the phlogiston theory. The seventh lecture is dedicated
to the epistemological methods where the most important is the principle of ceteris
paribus. All the scientific theories, laws, and concepts are valid only within the a
priori given conditions and circumstances. Consequently, there are not natural laws
but the laws of particular sciences. This idea led to the eighth lecture about the
scientific revolution in chemistry in which the central figure is Lavoisier. In this
chapter, the case study about the rejection of the phlogiston theory is used for
critical discussion about the extent and limitations of radical falsificationism. The
ninth lecture is rich with new ideas about general questions which can emerge from
chemical reasoning; from the relationship between thinking in logics and thinking
in analogy, till the problem of identity. The atomic theory is discussed as the
consequence of the quantitative approach in chemistry, i.e. how it is possible to
experimentize with invisible microcosm. The new definition of the notions of
structure and element is in the focus of the tenth lecture. It is explained how the
chemical epistemology based on analogies and classification can lead to the “invention” of the structure, and to its representation by chemical formulas and
chemical nomenclature. Structural theory that origins from the theory of radicals
and the theory of types is in the base of modern chemistry. I intend to show how the
periodic law of classification of chemical elements is constructed by using the same
methodology that was successful in the formation of the structural theory. Eleventh
chapter is dedicated to some problems about the use of models in the discovery
of the spatial configurations of molecules and chirality. The electronic structure of
atoms and molecules, as well as the consequences of this discovery on the general
ways of thinking in science, is the scope of the twelfth lecture. It is demonstrated
how the knowledge about the limitations of the structural theory has appeared in the
moment when the structural theory is transformed in the theory about reaction
vi
Preface
of physics and chemistry, as well as the first philosophical ideas that are the precursors of chemical concepts, is a scope of the second lecture. Among the central
concepts in this consideration are the problems of element, principle, and change.
Third and fourth lectures are dedicated to the first appearance of chemistry, the
Alexandrian proto-chemistry, and alchemy. The practice of experimentation that
has appeared in Hellenism is considered as an origin of chemistry, and as the
predecessor of Arabian and European alchemy. Scientific revolution in Enlightenment, mechanical philosophy, new approach in scientific education, and internationalization-“objectification” of science is in the focus of the fifth lecture, with
the intention to explain how the relationship between scientific practice and education is bidirectional: as science should be in the base of education, conversely, the
educational methods provide special requirements to science to be organized in a
specific way. The sixth lecture is focused on the importance of the choice of the
investigating models, and how this model selection is critical for the formation
of the new scientific paradigm. I demonstrate how the selection of combustion
process as a model for the investigation of chemical changes led to the formation
of the first chemical theory, the phlogiston theory. The seventh lecture is dedicated
to the epistemological methods where the most important is the principle of ceteris
paribus. All the scientific theories, laws, and concepts are valid only within the a
priori given conditions and circumstances. Consequently, there are not natural laws
but the laws of particular sciences. This idea led to the eighth lecture about the
scientific revolution in chemistry in which the central figure is Lavoisier. In this
chapter, the case study about the rejection of the phlogiston theory is used for
critical discussion about the extent and limitations of radical falsificationism. The
ninth lecture is rich with new ideas about general questions which can emerge from
chemical reasoning; from the relationship between thinking in logics and thinking
in analogy, till the problem of identity. The atomic theory is discussed as the
consequence of the quantitative approach in chemistry, i.e. how it is possible to
experimentize with invisible microcosm. The new definition of the notions of
structure and element is in the focus of the tenth lecture. It is explained how the
chemical epistemology based on analogies and classification can lead to the “invention” of the structure, and to its representation by chemical formulas and
chemical nomenclature. Structural theory that origins from the theory of radicals
and the theory of types is in the base of modern chemistry. I intend to show how the
periodic law of classification of chemical elements is constructed by using the same
methodology that was successful in the formation of the structural theory. Eleventh
chapter is dedicated to some problems about the use of models in the discovery
of the spatial configurations of molecules and chirality. The electronic structure of
atoms and molecules, as well as the consequences of this discovery on the general
ways of thinking in science, is the scope of the twelfth lecture. It is demonstrated
how the knowledge about the limitations of the structural theory has appeared in the
moment when the structural theory is transformed in the theory about reaction
vi
Preface