Chemistry : the impure science /
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| Author / Creator: | Bensaude-Vincent, Bernadette. |
|---|---|
| Imprint: | London : Imperial College Press ; Singapore ; Hackensack, NJ : Distributed by World Scientific Pub., c2008. |
| Description: | xii, 268 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. |
| Language: | English |
| Subject: | |
| Format: | Print Book |
| URL for this record: | http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/7540976 |
Table of Contents:
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter 1. Introduction: Chemistry and Its Discontents
- The Philosophy of Chemistry
- The Image of Chemistry
- The Goals of the Book
- The Structure of the Book
- Chapter 2. Chemistry and Pollution
- Chemical versus Natural
- Chemistry in Literature
- Silent Spring
- "Better Things for Better Living ... Through Chemistry"
- Abundance and Waste
- Courting Disaster
- Artificial or Natural?
- Chapter 3. The Damnation of the Alchemist
- Magicians or Charlatans
- In Defense of Artifice
- Faustian Ambitions
- From Extracts to Ersatz
- Pure and Applied Chemistry
- Artefacts as Hybrids of Nature and Society
- Chapter 4. The Space of the Laboratory
- Chemical Recipe Books
- A Space of Toil
- Seeing at a Glance
- A Purified Space
- A Social Space
- An Instrumental Space
- Chapter 5. Proof in the Laboratory
- Chemical Experiment as Public Spectacle
- Instruments of Decision
- The Power of Scepticism
- The Price of Proof
- The Limits of Proof
- Chapter 6. Chemistry Creates Its Object
- The Different Meanings of Synthesis
- From Simple to Complex
- From Fictions to Artefacts
- A Creative Process
- Chapter 7. A Duel between Two Conceptions of Matter
- The Ancient Concept of Phusis
- Atoms versus Elements; Two Rival Systems
- Is Chemistry Aristotelian?
- The Aporia of the Mixt
- Mixts or Compounds, Stahl or Lavoisier
- A Vexing Question
- Chapter 8. Chemistry versus Physics
- To Each Science Its Ontology
- The Ultimate Quest
- No Matter Without Qualities
- No Matter Without Agency
- Chapter 9. Atoms or Elements
- Mendeleev's Wager
- Renewing Mendeleev's Wager
- Who's Afraid of Reductionism?
- Between the Macro and the Micro
- Chapter 10. Positivism and Chemistry
- A Variety of Positivisms
- Chemistry as the Model for Positive Science
- Positivism as an Obstacle?
- Positivism versus Realism
- Chapter 11. Atoms as Fictions
- Writing Formulae
- Types and Models
- Agnostic Atomism
- Atoms as Mediators
- The Phenomenalist Response
- The Instrumentalist Response
- The Energetist Response
- Chapter 12. Agency and Relations
- Elements as Actors
- Operational Realism
- Alternative Metaphors
- Chapter 13. Taming the Nanoworld
- Bottom-Up versus Top-Down
- Rational Design
- Bio-Inspired Chemistry
- The Return of Chemistry's Faustian Ambitions
- The Rise of Chemistry's Philosophical Ambitions
- Chapter 14. Towards a Responsible Chemistry
- Concerns About the Future
- The Chemist's Code of Conduct
- From Prudence to Precaution
- A New Chemical Culture?
- Bibliography
- Index
