Table Of ContentEuropean Studies in Philosophy of Science
Hinne Hettema
The Union of
Chemistry and
Physics
Linkages, Reduction, Theory Nets and
Ontology
European Studies in Philosophy of Science
Volume 7
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WlodekRabinowicz,LundUniversity,Sweden
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Hinne Hettema
The Union of Chemistry
and Physics
Linkages, Reduction, Theory Nets
and Ontology
123
HinneHettema
DepartmentofPhilosophy
UniversityofAuckland
Auckland,NewZealand
ISSN2365-4228 ISSN2365-4236 (electronic)
EuropeanStudiesinPhilosophyofScience
ISBN978-3-319-60909-6 ISBN978-3-319-60910-2 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-60910-2
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Preface
This book deals with the interrelationship between theories of chemistry and
theories of physics and the role played by quantum chemistry as a theory ‘in
between’. Chemistry and physics exhibit a form of explanatory unity, where the
theoriesinthein-betweensubfields–chemicalphysicsandphysicalchemistry,as
wellasquantumchemistry–formthenexusofthisunification.Theaimofthisbook
istodevelopthatnexusalongsideasuitableformalapparatuswhilebeingtruetothe
scienceandthendrawsomephilosophicalconclusions.
Traditionally,therelationshipbetweenchemistryandphysicswasthoughttobe
oneofreduction,wherethereductionofchemistrytophysicswasseenasasimple
textbookcase:unproblematicand(largely)uninteresting.Theexistenceofasmooth
reductionrelationwastakenasafactrequiringlittlefurthercommentorrequiring
farlesscommentthantheproblemssurroundingthepotentialreductionofbiology
orthepotentialreductionofmentaleventstophysicalevents.Evennow,outsidethe
somewhat narrow confines of philosophy of chemistry, the reduction of chemistry
to physics is still usually seen as a paradigmatic but ultimately also uninteresting
exampleofscientificreduction.
Oneoftheearlyachievementsofphilosophyofchemistrywasitsinsightthatthis
reductionrelationshipwasnotsosimpleafterall.Earlyphilosophersofchemistry
argued that the casebook on the reduction of chemistry to physics should be
reopenedandre-examinedasaphilosophical‘coldcase’thatisnotonlyinteresting
in its own right but also (still) potentially paradigmatic for the reduction of other
sciences.
Inparticular,significantproblemsexistaroundanumberofcorechemicalideas
such as thenotion of the molecular structure,the chemical bond and the nature of
chemicalreactions,allofwhichareproblematicwhenviewedfromavantagepoint
ofaustereor‘pure’quantummechanics.
The early philosophers of chemistry pointed out that these problems could not
just be overlooked when claiming a reduction and, moreover, that the obvious
success of quantum theories in the explanation of chemical phenomena could not
be taken as outright support for a reductive relationship. A somewhat unfortunate
v
vi Preface
corollaryoftheearlydiscussionsinthephilosophyofchemistrywashoweverthat
thenotionofreductionitselfwasseenashopelesslyflawed.Thisisacorollarywith
which I largely disagree: I will argue that this corollary is based on a straw-man
version of reduction that is due for replacement. In particular, the starting point
of this book is that unity of chemistry and physics is based on intertheoretical
explanation and that it makes sense to look at reduction as a formal paraphrase
ofthisexplanatoryunity.
The claim of reduction now stands with many questions attached. Yet the
reductionofchemistrytophysicsisstillparadigmaticfor,oratleastfundamentalto,
thenotionofreductionperse:asreductionrelationsgo,thedomainsofchemistry
andphysicsarecloseandsignificantlyoverlapping,andthereisalotoftheoretical
andontological‘borrowing’andasignificantamountofcontinuitybetweenthetwo
sciences.
This book explores that interesting area in significant detail, mainly with the
machineryprovidedbythestructuralistapproachtotheories.Thisisnottoclaimthat
thestructuralistapproachistheonly,oreventhesuperior,approachtobringoutthe
relevantissues.Manydifferentapproachesarepossibletoformallycharacterisethe
relationshipbetweenchemistryandphysics,andtheapplicationofdifferentlogical
schemestocharacteriseandinvestigatethisrelationis,Iargue,animportantelement
ofafutureresearchprogrammeinthephilosophyofchemistry.
Thebookwillproceedasfollows.InChap.1,IoutlineanapproachtoNagelian
reduction which is up to the task of describing the reduction relation between
chemistry and physics in the necessary detail. Key to my approach to Nagel is a
conceptionofthereductionrelationshipasoneofrepresentationandsimilarity.As
would beexpected, thisnicely setsup thefurtherdiscussioninChap.6,where we
approachtheseconceptsinastructuralistmanner.
Part I deals with a number of practical examples from chemistry.
Programmatically,thesechapterslayoutthelandandservetospecifywhatexactly
chemistry is. The examples are chosen because they provide sufficient grounds to
concludethatatleastasimplereductionrelationshipbetweenchemistryandphysics
willfail.Chapter2discussestheoriesofthechemicalbond,andChap.3discusses
the topic of molecular structure and quantum mechanics, while Chap.4 discusses
Eyring’s theory of ‘absolute’ reaction rates. Chapter 5 deals with a Lakatosian
reconstructionofquantumchemistry.
Part II contains formal reconstructions using the structuralist framework. The
structuralist framework is not the only framework with which to study reduction,
but it is in the present context well suited to the task. A defining feature of the
structuralist framework is that it allows for a weak version of reduction based
on (structural) similarity. In this part, I first discuss the notion of reduction in a
structuralist framework in Chap.6 and then proceed to a discussion of quantum
mechanicsandtheoriesofchemistryinChaps.7and8.
PartIIIdiscussestheconsequencesforthephilosophyofscienceingeneraland
the philosophy of chemistry in particular. Its main focus is the ontology of atoms
andelementsandthenatureoforbitals.Iarguethat‘chemicalobjects’haveacertain
Preface vii
explanatorydepthassociatedwiththem,whichmakesthemrobustexamplesofhow
scientists might perceive objects more in general. The corollary of that fact is that
‘simple’theoriesofontologyareinadequatetodealwiththecomplexitiesofmodern
science.Thereadermaywishtoconsultonlysomeofthepartsofthisbook.Tothat
end,everypartisprefacedwithaprefaceandabriefsummary.
Auckland,NewZealand HinneHettema
Acknowledgements
This book grew out of my thesis, ‘Reducing Chemistry to Physics,’ and is still
in large measure based on that earlier work. It is in important parts significantly
rewritten. At various places, in an attempt to shorten the lengthy manuscript as
wellasstreamlinethework,chaptershavebeenshortened,argumentstightenedand
unnecessarysidelinesremoved.Somechapters(Chaps.4,9and10)werereplaced
bylaterworktostrengthentheoverallargumentandbolsterthenarrativearcofthe
whole.
I would like to thank my supervisors Theo Kuipers and Ria Broer and the
manuscript committee members Stephan Hartmann, Igor Douven and Evert
Jan Baerends for their constructive engagement with the original on which this
manuscriptisbased.
I have to admit that I accepted this chance to write ‘Release 2.0’ of my thesis
withsometrepidation.2.0wascertainlyunplanneduntiltheeditorsofEPSAcame
knocking at my door. My ‘day job’ as a security professional, largely invisible to
myprofessionalphilosophycolleaguesuptillveryrecently,hasbecomemorebusy,
more visible and more demanding. There were, and still are, no plans to become
a professional philosopher. Where I thought I could just abandon philosophy, she
certainlydidn’tabandonmebutreachedoutandgrabbedmeintheneck.
So here we are. I need to thank the members of the University of Auckland
IT security team for the general flow of security banter while I spent an official
holiday at the office working on this manuscript. Occasional talk about port 23,
DDoS botnets, SSH keys and other security stuff provided a welcome break from
themanuscriptatmanytimes,breaksfromwhichI’vegenerallyreturnedrefreshed.
I again have to thank my family for letting me spend a large amount of time
uninterruptedwhileworkingonthemanuscript.
Since this is version 2.0 of an earlier work, a lot of the material was
published previously. The bulk of the material is from my original PhD thesis
at the University of Groningen, Hettema (2012b). No chapter has remained
untouched and unrevised. Parts of Chap.4 have been published as Hettema
(2012c). That material takes the place of the original Chapter 4, Hettema (2009).
ix
x Acknowledgements
The original Chaps.9 and 10 have been significantly rewritten in an attempt
to clarify my thoughts and to take into account later work in this area. The
formalisation of the periodic table was published previously as Hettema and
Kuipers (1988) and was slightly revised in Hettema and Kuipers (2000). In
many ways, it was this paper, originally written as a student term paper, that
starteditall.
