Textbook in PDF format

The place of chemistry in the metaphysics of science may be viewed as peripheral compared to physics and biology. However, a metaphysics of science that disregards chemistry would be incomplete and ill-informed. This Element establishes this claim by showing how key metaphysical issues are informed by drawing on chemistry. Five metaphysical topics are investigated: natural kinds, scientific realism, reduction, laws and causation. These topics are spelled out from the perspective of ten chemical case studies, each of which illuminates the novel ways that metaphysics of science can be informed by chemistry. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Introduction
Natural Kinds
Elements, Compounds, Acids and Macromolecules
Searching for a Unifying Property
Case I. Chemical Elements
Case II. Chemical Compounds
Natural or Artificial?
Case III. Acids
Functional Kinds
Case IV. Macromolecules
Realism and Reduction
Atoms, Phlogiston, Molecular Structure and Chemical Bonds
Realism in Chemistry
Case V. Atoms and Molecules
Case VI. Phlogiston
Chemistry’s Relation to Quantum Physics
Case VII. Molecular Structure
Unity and Realism, All in One
Case VIII. Chemical Bonds
Laws and Causes
Periodic Table and Chemical Reactions
Laws in Chemistry
Case IX. Periodic Table
Causation in Chemistry
Case X. Chemical Reactions
Conclusion
References
Acknowledgements