Chang, Hasok (Author)
This book exhibits deep philosophical quandaries and intricacies of the historical development of science lying behind a simple and fundamental item of common sense in modern science, namely the composition of water as H2O. Three main phases of development are critically re-examined, covering the historical period from the 1760s to the 1860s: the Chemical Revolution (through which water first became recognized as a compound, not an element), early electrochemistry (by which water's compound nature was confirmed), and early atomic chemistry (in which water started out as HO and became H2O). In each case, the author concludes that the empirical evidence available at the time was not decisive in settling the central debates, and therefore the consensus that was reached was unjustified, or at least premature. This leads to a significant re-examination of the realism question in the philosophy of science, and a unique new advocacy for pluralism in science. Each chapter contains three layers, allowing readers to follow various parts of the book at their chosen level of depth and detail. The second major study in "complementary science", this book offers a rare combination of philosophy, history and science in a bid to improve scientific knowledge through history and philosophy of science.
...MoreReview Nye, Mary Jo (2013) Review of "Is Water H2O? Evidence, Realism and Pluralism". Centaurus: International Magazine of the History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology (pp. 433-434).
Review Boantza, Victor (2015) Review of "Is Water H2O? Evidence, Realism and Pluralism". British Journal for the History of Science (pp. 181-183).
Essay Review Mcevoy, John G. (2013) The Tensile Functions of HPS. Metascience: An International Review Journal for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science (pp. 653-658).
Essay Review Needham, Paul (2013) Questioning the Justification of Past Science. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science (pp. 85-93).
Article
Blumenthal, Geoffrey;
(2013)
Kuhn and the Chemical Revolution: A Re-Assessment
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Article
José Antonio Chamizo;
(2014)
The Role of Instruments in Three Chemical Revolutions
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Thesis
Nicholas William Best;
(2018)
The Chemical Revolution as Scientific, Political and Semantic Revolution
(/isis/citation/CBB809833125/)
Article
George Borg;
(2020)
On 'the application of science to science itself:' Chemistry, instruments, and the scientific labor process
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Article
Louis Caruana;
(2018)
Mechanistic Trends in Chemistry
(/isis/citation/CBB703605057/)
Article
Kim, Mi Gyung;
(2011)
From Phlogiston to Caloric: Chemical Ontologies
(/isis/citation/CBB001024703/)
Article
Sturm, Thomas;
Mülberger, Annette;
(2012)
Crisis Discussions in Psychology---New Historical and Philosophical Perspectives
(/isis/citation/CBB001221625/)
Article
Eric Oberheim;
(2016)
Rediscovering Einstein's Legacy: How Einstein Anticipates Kuhn and Feyerabend on the Nature of Science
(/isis/citation/CBB864838341/)
Book
Blackbourn, David;
(2006)
The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape, and the Making of Modern Germany
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Book
Halliday, Stephen;
(2004)
Water: A Turbulent History
(/isis/citation/CBB000500271/)
Article
Delisle, Richard G.;
(2014)
Evolution in a fully constituted world: Charles Darwin's debts towards a static world in the Origin of Species (1859)
(/isis/citation/CBB001500027/)
Article
Marc Henry;
(2020)
Consciousness, Information, Electromagnetism and Water
(/isis/citation/CBB701497829/)
Article
Franklin Jacoby;
(2021)
Acids and Rust: A New Perspective on the Chemical Revolution
(/isis/citation/CBB819662968/)
Book
Ritter, Johann Wilhelm;
Holland, Jocelyn;
(2010)
Key Texts of Johann Wilhelm Ritter (1776--1810) on the Science and Art of Nature
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Article
Ave Mets;
(2020)
A Measurement-Theoretic View on the Early Evolution of the Ordering of Chemical Elements
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Article
Fauque, Danielle M. E.;
(2008)
An Englishman Abroad: Charles Blagden's Visit to Paris in 1783
(/isis/citation/CBB000930239/)
Book
Cahn, Ralph M.;
(2002)
Philosophische und historische Aspekte des Periodensystems der chemischen Elemente
(/isis/citation/CBB000300414/)
Book
Kaiser, David;
(2005)
Pedagogy and The Practice of Science: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
(/isis/citation/CBB000550490/)
Chapter
Jean-Pierre Llored;
(2020)
Substance and Function: The Case of Chemical Elements
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Chapter
Sarah N. Hijmans;
(2020)
Chemical Elements and Chemical Substances: Rethinking Paneth’s Distinction
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