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33Quantum Mechanics and the Philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead (review)Review of Metaphysics 59 (3): 636-638. 2006.
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232The Nature of Chemical ExistenceIn Editors Paul Bogaard and Gordon Treash (ed.), Metaphysics as Foundation, State University of New York Press. pp. 272-284. 1992.
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63Some Philosophical Influences on Ilya Prigogine’s Statistical MechanicsFoundations of Chemistry 8 (3): 271-283. 2006.During a long and distinguished career, Belgian physical chemist Ilya Prigogine (1917–2003) pursued a coherent research program in thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and related scientific areas. The main goal of this effort was establishing the origin of thermodynamic irreversibility (the ‘‘arrow of time’’) as local (residing in the details of the interaction of interest), rather than as global (being solely a consequence of properties of the initial singularity – the ‘‘Big Bang’’). In many…Read more
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55How chemistry shifts horizons: element, substance, and the essentialFoundations of Chemistry 11 (2): 65-77. 2009.In 1931 eminent chemist Fritz Paneth maintained that the modern notion of “element” is closely related to (and as “metaphysical” as) the concept of element used by the ancients (e.g., Aristotle). On that basis, the element chlorine (properly so-called) is not the elementary substance dichlorine, but rather chlorine as it is in carbon tetrachloride. The fact that pure chemicals are called “substances” in English (and closely related words are so used in other European languages) derives from phil…Read more
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20Chemical “substances” that are not “chemical substances”Philosophy of Science 73 (5): 841-852. 2006.
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443A New ‘Idea of Nature’ for Chemical EducationScience & Education 22 (7): 1775-1786. 2013.This paper recommends that chemistry educators shift to a different ‘idea of nature’, an alternative ‘worldview.’ Much of contemporary science and technology deals in one way or another with dynamic coherences that display novel and important properties. The notion of how the world works that such studies and practices generate (and require) is quite different from the earlier concepts that are now integrated into science education. Eventual success in meeting contemporary technological and soci…Read more
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10Eric R. Scerri: Collected Papers on Philosophy of Chemistry (review)Science & Education 19 (9): 931-933. 2010.
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448Should the Historical Star-System in Chemical Education Be Replaced? (review)Science & Education 26 (7-9): 1075-1078. 2017.
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166Constraints on the origin of coherence in far-from-equilibrium systemsIn Timothy E. Eastman & Henry Keeton (eds.), Physics and Whitehead: Quantum, Process and Experience, State University of New York Press. pp. 63-73. 2003.Origin of a dissipative structure in a chemical dynamic system: occurs under the following constraints: 1) Affinity must be high. (The system must be far from equilibrium.); 2) There must be an auto-catalytic process; 3) A process that reduces the concentration of the auto-catalyst must operate; 4) The relevant parameters (rate constants, etc.) must lie in a range corresponding to a limit cycle trajectory. That is, there must be closure of the network of reaction such that a state sufficiently…Read more
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889How properties hold together in SubstancesIn Eric Scerri & Grant Fisher (eds.), Essays in Philosophy of Chemistry, Oxford University Press. pp. 199-216. 2016.This article aims to clarify how aspects of current chemical understanding relate to some important contemporary problems of philosophy. The first section points out that the long-running philosophical debates concerning how properties stay together in substances have neglected the important topic of structure-determining closure. The second part describes several chemically-important types of closure and the third part shows how such closures ground the properties of chemical substances. The f…Read more
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24Towards A Reapprehension of Causal EfficacyProcess Studies 24 34-38. 1995.Whitehead held that actual entities (occasions) are based on feelings (prehensions) of the antecedent world. He considered both "simple" and "transmuted" (combined) feelings. The notion that some interactions are "simple" was consistent with the dominant thrust of the science of the first third of this century, marked by triumphs of analysis such as identification of neutrons and protons as component of atomic nuclei. The science of the last third of the century is rather different with greater …Read more
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432Process structural realism, instance ontology, and societal orderIn Franz Riffert and Hans-Joachim Sander (ed.), Rearching with Whitehead: System and Adventure, Alber. pp. 190-211. 2008.Whitehead’s cosmology centers on the self-creation of actual occasions that perish as they come to be, but somehow do combine to constitute societies that are persistent agents and/or patients. “Instance Ontology” developed by D.W. Mertz concerns unification of relata into facts of relatedness by specific intensions. These two conceptual systems are similar in that they both avoid the substance-property distinction: they differ in their understanding of how basic units combine to constitute comp…Read more
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210How Philosophy of Mind Needs Philosophy of ChemistryHyle 14 (1). 2008.By the 1960s many, perhaps most, philosophers had adopted 'physicalism' – the view that physical causes fully account for mental activities. However, controversy persists about what counts as 'physical causes'. 'Reductive' physicalists recognize only microphysical (elementary-particle-level) causality. Many, perhaps most, physicalists are 'non-reductive' – they hold that entities considered by other 'special' sciences have causal powers. Philosophy of chemistry can help resolve main issues in ph…Read more
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416A neglected aspect of the puzzle of chemical structure: how history helpsFoundations of Chemistry 14 (3): 235-243. 2012.Intra-molecular connectivity (that is, chemical structure) does not emerge from computations based on fundamental quantum-mechanical principles. In order to compute molecular electronic energies (of C 3 H 4 hydrocarbons, for instance) quantum chemists must insert intra-molecular connectivity “by hand.” Some take this as an indication that chemistry cannot be reduced to physics: others consider it as evidence that quantum chemistry needs new logical foundations. Such discussions are generally syn…Read more
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158Some philosophical influences on Ilya prigogine’s statistical mechanicsFoundations of Chemistry 8 (3): 271-283. 2006.During a long and distinguished career, Belgian physical chemist Ilya Prigogine (1917–2003) pursued a coherent research program in thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and related scientific areas. The main goal of this effort was establishing the origin of thermodynamic irreversibility (the ‘‘arrow of time’’) as local (residing in the details of the interaction of interest), rather than as global (being solely a consequence of properties of the initial singularity – the ‘‘Big Bang’’). In many…Read more
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15Evolution as Entropy (review)Review of Metaphysics 40 (4): 760-761. 1987.This book aims to "develop the idea that evolution is an axiomatic consequence of organismic information and cohesion systems obeying the second law of thermodynamics in a manner analogous to, but not identical with, the second law's usual application in physical and chemical systems." The authors "adhere to a particular methodological approach called phylogenetic systematics." They have "devoted most of their primary research efforts to discovering historical effects in developmental patterns."…Read more
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329Life in the Interstices: Systems Biology and Process ThoughtIn Spyridon A. Koutroufinis (ed.), Life and Process: Towards a New Biophilosophy, De Gruyter. pp. 157-170. 2014.When a group of processes achieves such closure that a set of states of affairs recurs continually, then the effect of that coherence on the world differs from what would occur in the absence of that closure. Such altered effectiveness is an attribute of the system as a whole, and would have consequences. This indicates that the network of processes, as a unit, has ontological significance. Whenever a network of processes generates continual return to a limited set of states of affairs, the syst…Read more
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45By Parallel Reasoning: The Construction and Evaluation of Analogical Arguments (review)Philosophical Review 121 (3): 451-457. 2012.
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195Three Concepts of Chemical Closure and their Epistemological SignificanceIn Jean-Pierre Llored (ed.), The Philosophy of Chemistry: Practices, Methodology, and Concepts, Cambridge Scholars Press. pp. 506-616. 2013.Philosophers have long debated ‘substrate’ and ‘bundle’ theories as to how properties hold together in objects ― but have neglected to consider that every chemical entity is defined by closure of relationships among components ― here designated ‘Closure Louis de Broglie.’ That type of closure underlies the coherence of spectroscopic and chemical properties of chemical substances, and is importantly implicated in the stability and definition of entities of many other types, including those usuall…Read more
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23A report on an international meeting held at Georgetown University on the Philosophy of Chemistry.
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32Mind, Brain and the Quantum: The Compound 'I' (review)Review of Metaphysics 44 (4): 851-852. 1991.At the end of this impressive work, Michael Lockwood observes: "Philosophers, especially British philosophers tend, in my experience, to combine a rather complacent ignorance of science with an excessive respect for it". The author himself seems to be a definite exception to this generalization, since he reports that he has spent more than twenty years "thinking about the mind body problem and the interpretation of quantum mechanics" and displays a critical attitude toward statements based on sc…Read more
Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Physical Science |
Areas of Interest
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Physical Science |