How do chemists assign numbers to chemicals properties? What do these numbers refer to? To answer these questions, we will first point out both the context-dependence of chemicals and the epistemic limitations of chemistry. We will then investigate how chemists use various procedures to stabilize measurements and how they use mixtures of samples as "references" in order to determine the amount of different chemicals in a sample. This study will enable us to query how it is possible for chemists to change one factor while holding others constant at each step of the measurement procedure. This part of our work which will lead us to query the meaning of the ceteris paribus clause and the very possibility of making holistic inferences in the domain of chemistry. To conclude, we will highlight how methodological pluralism developed by chemists makes it possible for a relational type of consistency to emerge.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Tsou, Jonathan Y.;
(2003)
Reconsidering Feyerabend's “Anarchism”
(/isis/citation/CBB000502674/)
Book
Mitchell, Sandra;
(2009)
Unsimple Truths: Science, Complexity, and Policy
(/isis/citation/CBB001020062/)
Article
Rein Vihalemm;
(2016)
Chemistry and the Problem of Pluralism in Science: An Analysis Concerning Philosophical and Scientific Disagreements
(/isis/citation/CBB999713526/)
Article
Rein Vihalemm;
(2016)
Chemistry, Paradigms, and a View of Epistemic Pluralism: To the Issue of the Nature of Disagreements in Philosophy and in Science
(/isis/citation/CBB608614670/)
Article
Ronei Clécio Mocellin;
Martín Labarca;
(2024)
For a Dialogue Between the Teaching of Chemistry and the History and Philosophy of Chemistry: the Case of the Concept of ‘Chemical Element’
(/isis/citation/CBB677753388/)
Article
J. E. Wolff;
(2020)
Heaps of moles? – Mediating macroscopic and microscopic measurement of chemical substances
(/isis/citation/CBB653807426/)
Article
H. Otto Sibum;
(2020)
When is enough enough? Accurate measurement and the integrity of scientific research
(/isis/citation/CBB773125013/)
Thesis
Biying Ling;
(2022)
How “Quantity” Disappeared from Philosophies of Measurement: Perspectives from 19th Century Sciences
(/isis/citation/CBB926778293/)
Article
Ave Mets;
(2020)
A Measurement-Theoretic View on the Early Evolution of the Ordering of Chemical Elements
(/isis/citation/CBB821327917/)
Article
Jamie Shaw;
(2017)
Was Feyerabend an Anarchist? The Structure(s) of ‘anything Goes’
(/isis/citation/CBB234128519/)
Article
Grégory Dufaud;
(2021)
Tournant autoritaire et ouverture des possibles: Trajectoires de médecins sous Staline
(/isis/citation/CBB979666483/)
Article
Stefano Canali;
(2019)
Evaluating Evidential Pluralism in Epidemiology: Mechanistic Evidence in Exposome Research
(/isis/citation/CBB460640168/)
Chapter
Vihalemm, Rein;
(2001)
Chemistry as an Interesting Subject for the Philosophy of Science
(/isis/citation/CBB000102691/)
Book
Scerri, Eric R.;
Fisher, Grant;
(2016)
Essays in the Philosophy of Chemistry
(/isis/citation/CBB641611555/)
Book
Tamás Demeter;
(2016)
David Hume and the Culture of Scottish Newtonianism: Methodology and Ideology in Enlightenment Inquiry
(/isis/citation/CBB268233178/)
Article
George Borg;
(2020)
On 'the application of science to science itself:' Chemistry, instruments, and the scientific labor process
(/isis/citation/CBB166777080/)
Essay Review
Olimpia Lombardi;
(2017)
The Many Faces of Chemistry from a Philosophical Perspective
(/isis/citation/CBB301884199/)
Article
Leuschner, Anna;
(2012)
Pluralism and Objectivity: Exposing and Breaking a Circle
(/isis/citation/CBB001221678/)
Article
Martin Carrier;
(2017)
Facing the Credibility Crisis of Science: On the Ambivalent Role of Pluralism in Establishing Relevance and Reliability
(/isis/citation/CBB489861694/)
Article
Jamie Shaw;
(2021)
Feyerabend and manufactured disagreement: reflections on expertise, consensus, and science policy
(/isis/citation/CBB740430654/)
Be the first to comment!