Argument
Chemistry
Overview
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies matter: composition, structure, properties, behavior and the changes they undergo during reactions with other substances. Chemistry also addresses the nature of chemical bonds in chemical compounds.
In the scope of its subject, chemistry occupies an intermediate position between physics and biology. It is sometimes called the central science because it provides a foundation for understanding both basic and applied scientific disciplines at a fundamental level. For example, chemistry explains aspects of plant growth (botany), the formation of igneous rocks (geology), how atmospheric ozone is formed and how environmental pollutants are degraded (ecology), the properties of the soil on the Moon (cosmochemistry), how medications work (pharmacology), and how to collect DNA evidence at a crime scene (forensics).
Chemistry has existed under various names since ancient times. It has evolved, and now chemistry encompasses various areas of specialisation, or subdisciplines, that continue to increase in number and interrelate to create further interdisciplinary fields of study. The applications of various fields of chemistry are used frequently for economic purposes in the chemical industry.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
Finally the methods of physics have invaded a new domain, that of chemistry; physical chemistry is born. It is still very young, but we already see that it will enable us to connect such phenomena as electrolysis, osmosis and the motions of ions. From this rapid exposition, what shall we conclude?
Henri Poincaré, The Foundations of Science
States what Chemistry is; names Chemistry twice.
The substances, whether simple or compound, with which chemistry is conversant, are Kinds, and, as such, the properties which distinguish each of them from the rest are innumerable; but in the case of compound substances (the simple ones are not numerous enough to require a systematic nomenclature), there is one property, the chemical composition, which is of itself sufficient to distinguish the Kind; and is (with…
John Stuart Mill, A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive
States what Chemistry is; the author is tied to Chemistry in the knowledge graph.
It is a common observation that a science first begins to be exact when it is quantitatively treated. What are called the exact sciences are no others than the mathematical ones. Chemists reasoned vaguely until Lavoisier showed them how to apply the balance to the verification of their theories, when chemistry leaped suddenly into the position of the most perfect of the classificatory sciences. It has thus become so…
Charles S. Peirce, Chance, Love, and Logic
States what Chemistry is; names Chemistry twice.
Philosophers who discussed Chemistry
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- Ludwig Büchner
- Hans-Georg Gadamer
- Paracelsus
- Mircea Eliade
- John Stuart Mill
- Ge Hong
- Periodic table
- Robert A. Heinlein
- Ludwig Klages
- Fakhr al-Din al-Razi
- Robert Boyle
- Gaston Bachelard
- Charles Sanders Peirce
- Constantin Rădulescu-Motru
- Yeshayahu Leibowitz
- Wincenty Lutosławski
- David Prall
- Ivan Orlov (philosopher)
Related ideas
- Epicurus
- Force
- Elementary particle
- Avicenna
- Germany
- Classical Greece
- Geology
- Genetics
- Philosophy
- Humphry Davy
- Ancient Greek
- Classical physics
- Interdisciplinarity
- Arab world
- Byzantine Empire
- Ancient Greek philosophy
- Light
- Mathematics
- Medicine
- Gas
- Molecular biology
- Alessandro Volta
- Molecule
- Organism
Place in the tradition
Part of Behaviorism.