Eric Scerri

The article concerns five traditionally difficult issues that chemical educators encounter and how they should be resolved. In some cases I propose the examination of necessary and sufficient conditions in order to cast light on the relationships under discussion. The five educational issues are, the notion that a pH value of seven implies a neutral solution of water and vice versa, the use of Le Châtelier’s Principle, the relative occupation and ionization of 4s and 3d orbitals, the explanation of anomalous electronic configurations and the elements that make up group 3 of the periodic table.

This volume follows the successful book, which has helped to introduce and spread the Philosophy of Chemistry to a wider audience of philosophers, historians, science educators as well as chemists, physicists and biologists. The introduction summarizes the way in which the field has developed in the ten years since the previous volume was conceived and introduces several new authors who did not contribute to the first edition. The editors are well placed to assemble this book, as they are the editor in chief and deputy editors of the leading academic journal in the field, Foundations of Chemistry. The philosophy of chemistry remains a somewhat neglected field, unlike the philosophy of physics and the philosophy of biology. Why there has been little philosophical attention to the central discipline of chemistry among the three natural sciences is a theme that is explored by several of the contributors. This volume will do a great deal to redress this imbalance. Among the themes covered is the question of reduction of chemistry to physics, the reduction of biology to chemistry, whether true chemical laws exist and causality in chemistry. In addition more general questions of the nature of organic chemistry, biochemistry and chemical synthesis are examined by specialist in these areas.

The philosophy of chemistry has emerged in recent years as a new and autonomous field within the Anglo-American philosophical tradition. With the development of this new discipline, Eric Scerri and Grant Fisher's "Essays in Philosophy of Chemistry" is a timely and definitive guide to all current thought in this field. One of the themes of this collection is how philosophy of chemistry can make a contributions to problems of philosophy more generally, such as how chemistry and quantum chemistry contribute to the philosophy of the mind.

The term philosophy of chemistry is here construed broadly to include some publications from the history of chemistry and chemical education. Of course this initial selection of material has inevitably been biased by the interests of the author. This bibliography supersedes that of van Brakel and Vermeeren (1981), although no attempt has been made to include every single one of their entries, especially in languages other than English. Also, readers interested particularly in articles in German may wish to consult the bibliography by Dittus and Mayer which also contains some material not included here (Dittus and Mayer, 1992). The aim is to maintain an up-to-date version of this bibliography and to publish a revised version in due course. Suggestions for further inclusions should be sent to the author.

Having just returned from a science education conference in Brazil I can confirm that there is a great deal of interest in the history and philosophy of chemistry in this country that will be hosting the next ISPC meeting in Rio de Janeiro between July 28th and 30th, 2015. The organizer is Professor Waldmir Araujo Neto who can be contacted at [email protected] for further details.The present issue of Foundations of Chemistry has an even more international flavor than usual with articles from Mexico, Argentina, New Zealand, Israel, Spain, Russia and the United States in order of appearance. We begin with Octavio Novaro’s further analysis of the placement of elements in the periodic table. Next comes a debate between Olimpia Lombardi in Argentina and Hinne Hettema in New Zealand concerning the reduction of chemistry which arose from Hettema’s recent book on the subject. Amihud Gilead, who gave a presentation for the first time at the recent ISPC meeting in London, contributes an art ..

The main thrust of the paper involves a theoretical and philosophical analysis of the claim made in September 1999 that atomic orbitals have been directly imaged for the first time. After a brief account of the recent claims the paper reviews the development of the orbit and later orbital concepts and analyzes the theoretical status of atomic orbitals. The conclusion is that contrary to these claims, atomic orbitals have not in fact been observed. The non-referring nature of modern atomic orbitals is discussed in the context of Laudan's writings on realism, the success of theories, and whether or not scientific terms refer. I conclude that the failure to observe orbitals is a good prima facie case for divorcing the success of theories from the question of whether their central terms refer. The added relevance of this case is that it concerns a current and highly successful theory. Finally, the relevance of this 'floating model' to contemporary discussions on scientific models is briefly considered

The final issue of this volume is a long-awaited special issue in honor of the late Richard Bader one of the pioneers of modern theoretical chemistry. Bader’s work has had wide ramifications in the profession and has given rise to a great deal of philosophical discussion concerning chemical bonding, whether atoms exist in molecules, the nature of atomic orbitals and much besides.The guest editor for what will be a two-part special issue is Cherif Matta a leading proponent of Bader’s approach to theoretical chemistry and incidentally a former PhD student of Bader’s. I will leave it to Cherif to introduce the articles in his extensive and very well referenced editorial.Moving to news of the society, I would like to thank Lucia Lewowitz for organizing such a splendid ISPC meeting which took place in Monevideo as well as the city of Fray Bentos in Uruguay this past August. I am also pleased to announce that we have a definite location for the next annual meeting, which has been graciously

There is now a considerable body of published work on the epistemology of modern chemistry, especially with regard to the nature of quantum chemistry. In addition, the question of the metaphysical underpinnings of chemistry has received a good deal of attention. The present article concentrates on metaphysical considerations including the question of whether elements and groups of elements are natural kinds. It is also argued that an appeal to the metaphysical nature of elements can help clarify the re-emerging controversies among chemists regarding the placement of the elements hydrogen and helium in the periodic system and the question of whether there exists a best form of the periodic table