9
Atoms and Molecules
Either mathematics is too big for the human mind, or the human
mind is more than a machine.
Kurt Gödel
Abstract
This chapter 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 quantitative approach in chemistry, i.e. how it is possible
to experimentize with invisible microcosm.
Keywords
Ad hoc hypotheses Á Transduction Á Law of conservation of mass Á Problem of
identity Á Chemical composition Á Equivalence of masses Á Atoms Á Dalton’s
laws Á Chemical dualism
Ladies and gentlemen,
As I tried to represent in the previous lecture, scientific revolution was also an
epistemological revolution which (partially!) has removed ad hoc hypotheses from
the fundamental basis of theory. In contrast to the phlogiston theory, some of ad
hoc hypotheses were transformed in the theories about the real physical objects. The
ad hoc hypothesis in the time of Democritus and Leucippus has been the concept
about the atoms as bearers of the discrete structure of matter. Both the philosophers
were the opponents to the Aristotle’s idea about the continuous substance. In spite
© 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_9
73
Atoms and Molecules
Either mathematics is too big for the human mind, or the human
mind is more than a machine.
Kurt Gödel
Abstract
This chapter 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 quantitative approach in chemistry, i.e. how it is possible
to experimentize with invisible microcosm.
Keywords
Ad hoc hypotheses Á Transduction Á Law of conservation of mass Á Problem of
identity Á Chemical composition Á Equivalence of masses Á Atoms Á Dalton’s
laws Á Chemical dualism
Ladies and gentlemen,
As I tried to represent in the previous lecture, scientific revolution was also an
epistemological revolution which (partially!) has removed ad hoc hypotheses from
the fundamental basis of theory. In contrast to the phlogiston theory, some of ad
hoc hypotheses were transformed in the theories about the real physical objects. The
ad hoc hypothesis in the time of Democritus and Leucippus has been the concept
about the atoms as bearers of the discrete structure of matter. Both the philosophers
were the opponents to the Aristotle’s idea about the continuous substance. In spite
© 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_9
73