How Philosophy of Nature Needs Philosophy of Chemistry

• Autor(a) principal: Llored, Jean-Pierre
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/28018
• topic: Philosophy of chemistry; Associated milieu; Levels of organization; Relational properties; Nature

This paper aims to highlight how the philosophy of chemistry could be of help for rethinking Nature today. To do so, we will point out: (1) the co-defi nition of chemical relations (transformations) and chemical relata (bodies) within chemical activities; (2) the constitutive role of the modes of intervention in the defi nition, always open and provisional, of “active” chemical bodies; and (3) the mutual dependence of the levels of organization in chemistry. We will insist on the way chemists tailor networks of interdependencies within which chemical bodies and properties are context-sensitive and mutually determined by means of particular chemical operations or transformations. To conclude, we will show how the specifi c action of bodies upon the Earth at diff erent scales of space and time, and how the relational defi nition of a chemical body, pave the way for a new understanding of Nature.