A priori components of science: Lavoisier and the law of conservation of mass in chemical reactions (original) (raw)
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XI International Conference on History of Science and Science Education , 2018
Abstract: In his book "Identité et réalité", Émile Meyerson argued for a philosophical a priori background in the case of all scientific conservation laws. This work discusses one of the specific cases he addressed, the conservation of mass in chemical reactions. It analyzes the attitude of Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier and other researchers regarding their own experiments concerning this law of conservation. This case study is relevant for the teaching of chemistry (and of science, in general), because it clearly shows the influence of philosophical principles on the development of science, thereby providing a nice example against the inductivist view of science. Note: This paper was presented at the XI ICHSSE (International Conference on History of Science and Science Education) on August 31, 2018.
Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 2000
A detailed analysis of recent Portuguese Curricular Reform materials (low secondary school, 13-15 years old students) shows that the topic of "mass conservation in chemical reactions" is a central one. However, the proposed teaching approach is a traditional one, emphasizing the learning of isolated concepts and science processes. New and different teaching approaches are necessary and these must consider the history and the philosophy of science, so that aspects related to the context of discovery are also considered. This is an important point in the light of new Science Education aims, which take into account the development of adequate images of science and scientific knowledge. The main aim of this study is to present and discuss a new teaching approach based on research carried out in the last four years. The main lines of the approach presented is epistemologically based on the New Philosophy of Science. It departs from the combustion reactions and their contemporary economical, environmental, social and political contexts (exploring STS perspectives in the teaching of science). Its exploration is centred upon the context of oxygen theory discovery and the main teaching aims are discussed. Strategies, activities and materials used are presented and their educational purposes are accounted for with reference to the theoretical framework developed. Internal evaluation based on feedback of the two teachers who developed the strategy and of the students involved converge towards the acknowledgment of the interest of the new proposal. [Chem.
The case for the philosophy of chemistry
1997
The philosophy of chemistry has been sadly neglected by most contempory literature in the philosophy of science. This paper argues that this neglect has been unfortunate and that there is much to be learned from paying greater philosophical attention to the set of issues defined by the philosophy of chemistry.
2013
According to Lavoisier the physical sciences embody three important ingredients; facts, ideas, and language. Ideas had to be consistent with the facts generated from experiment and observation and language needed to be precise and reflect the known chemistry of substances. Lavoisier had no time for what he termed theoretical speculation about the fundamental nature of matter and avoided the use of the atomic hypothesis or Aristotle’s elements in his Elements of Chemistry. In the preface to this famous work he claims he has good educational reasons for this position. This paper examines the extent to which Lavoisier kept to this agenda in his famous experiment on the composition of air and the implications of this for chemistry education are considered.
The Case for Philosophy of Chemistry
Synthese, 1997
The philosophy of chemistry has been sadly neglected by most contempory literature in the philosophy of science. This paper argues that this neglect has been unfortunate and that there is much to be learned from paying greater philosophical attention to the set of issues defined by the philosophy of chemistry. The potential contribution of this field to such current topics as reduction, laws, explanation, and supervenience is explored, as are possible applications of insights gained by such study to the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of social science.
French Studies In The Philosophy Of Science, 2009
The notion of "philosophy of chemistry" challenges the singular in the phrase "philosophy of science", which is the standard term for the discipline in the English language. This linguistic peculiarity has undoubtedly favored the tacit equation science = physics that has characterized mainstream philosophy of science during the course of the twentieth-century. The hegemony of physics has had profound consequences that have subsequently become identifiable. One of them is the increasing gap between philosophical reflection and science in action. As Joachim Schummer has pointed out: "Had those philosophers without prejudice gone into the laboratories, then they would have stumbled on chemistry almost everywhere" 1. For there is a striking contrast between the philosophers' neglect of chemistry and the quantitative data, which show that chemistry is by far the largest scientific discipline in terms of the number of publications indexed by the major journals of abstracts. Thus, philosophers have virtually ignored the major part of scientific activity choosing instead to focus on theoretical physics, which seemed more appropriate in light of the "linguistic turn". The situation is slightly different in the European tradition. The plural "philosophie des sciences" which has prevailed in the French language may be due to Auguste Comte's longstanding influence, since he strongly advocated a regional epistemology. The result is that chemistry has not been totally neglected. As I have argued elsewhere, chemistry helped shape the French tradition, especially in what can be labeled its "historical turn" and its focus on theories of matter 2. Whether French philosophers interacted more with active scientists than their Anglo-Saxon counterparts