Ebook: The Scientist’s Atom and the Philosopher’s Stone: How Science Succeeded and Philosophy Failed to Gain Knowledge of Atoms

Drawing on the results of his own scholarly research as well as that of others the author offers, for the first time, a comprehensive and documented history of theories of the atom from Democritus to the twentieth century. This is not history for its own sake. By critically reflecting on the various versions of atomic theories of the past the author is able to grapple with the question of what sets scientific knowledge apart from other kinds of knowledge, philosophical knowledge in particular. He thereby engages historically with issues concerning the nature and status of scientific knowledge that were dealt with in a more abstract way in his What Is This Thing Called Science?, a book that has been a standard text in philosophy of science for three decades and which is available in nineteen languages. Speculations about the fundamental structure of matter from Democritus to the seventeenth-century mechanical philosophers and beyond are construed as categorically distinct from atomic theories amenable to experimental investigation and support and as contributing little to the latter from a historical point of view. The thesis will provoke historians and philosophers of science alike and will require a revision of a range of standard views in the history of science and philosophy. The book is key reading for students and scholars in History and Philosophy of Science and will be instructive for and provide a challenge to philosophers, historians and scientists more generally.

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Drawing on the results of his own scholarly research as well as that of others the author offers, for the first time, a comprehensive and documented history of theories of the atom from Democritus to the twentieth century. This is not history for its own sake. By critically reflecting on the various versions of atomic theories of the past the author is able to grapple with the question of what sets scientific knowledge apart from other kinds of knowledge, philosophical knowledge in particular. He thereby engages historically with issues concerning the nature and status of scientific knowledge that were dealt with in a more abstract way in his What Is This Thing Called Science?, a book that has been a standard text in philosophy of science for three decades and which is available in nineteen languages. Speculations about the fundamental structure of matter from Democritus to the seventeenth-century mechanical philosophers and beyond are construed as categorically distinct from atomic theories amenable to experimental investigation and support and as contributing little to the latter from a historical point of view. The thesis will provoke historians and philosophers of science alike and will require a revision of a range of standard views in the history of science and philosophy. The book is key reading for students and scholars in History and Philosophy of Science and will be instructive for and provide a challenge to philosophers, historians and scientists more generally.

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Drawing on the results of his own scholarly research as well as that of others the author offers, for the first time, a comprehensive and documented history of theories of the atom from Democritus to the twentieth century. This is not history for its own sake. By critically reflecting on the various versions of atomic theories of the past the author is able to grapple with the question of what sets scientific knowledge apart from other kinds of knowledge, philosophical knowledge in particular. He thereby engages historically with issues concerning the nature and status of scientific knowledge that were dealt with in a more abstract way in his What Is This Thing Called Science?, a book that has been a standard text in philosophy of science for three decades and which is available in nineteen languages. Speculations about the fundamental structure of matter from Democritus to the seventeenth-century mechanical philosophers and beyond are construed as categorically distinct from atomic theories amenable to experimental investigation and support and as contributing little to the latter from a historical point of view. The thesis will provoke historians and philosophers of science alike and will require a revision of a range of standard views in the history of science and philosophy. The book is key reading for students and scholars in History and Philosophy of Science and will be instructive for and provide a challenge to philosophers, historians and scientists more generally.

Content:
Front Matter....Pages I-XII
Atomism: Science or Philosophy?....Pages 1-17
Democritean Atomism....Pages 19-41
How does Epicurus’s Garden Grow?....Pages 43-58
Atomism in its Ancient Greek Perspective....Pages 59-74
From the Ancient Greeks to the Dawn of Science....Pages 75-95
Atomism, Experiment and the Mechanical Philosophy: The Work of Robert Boyle....Pages 97-122
Newton’s Atomism and its Fate....Pages 123-138
The Emergence of Modern Chemistry With No Debt to Atomism....Pages 139-171
Dalton’s Atomism and its Creative Modification via Chemical Formulae....Pages 173-198
From Avogadro to Cannizzaro: The Old Story....Pages 199-213
Thermodynamics and the Kinetic Theory....Pages 215-231
Experimental Contact with Molecules....Pages 233-246
Experimental Contact with Electrons....Pages 247-260
Atomism Vindicated?....Pages 261-268
Back Matter....Pages 269-287

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Drawing on the results of his own scholarly research as well as that of others the author offers, for the first time, a comprehensive and documented history of theories of the atom from Democritus to the twentieth century. This is not history for its own sake. By critically reflecting on the various versions of atomic theories of the past the author is able to grapple with the question of what sets scientific knowledge apart from other kinds of knowledge, philosophical knowledge in particular. He thereby engages historically with issues concerning the nature and status of scientific knowledge that were dealt with in a more abstract way in his What Is This Thing Called Science?, a book that has been a standard text in philosophy of science for three decades and which is available in nineteen languages. Speculations about the fundamental structure of matter from Democritus to the seventeenth-century mechanical philosophers and beyond are construed as categorically distinct from atomic theories amenable to experimental investigation and support and as contributing little to the latter from a historical point of view. The thesis will provoke historians and philosophers of science alike and will require a revision of a range of standard views in the history of science and philosophy. The book is key reading for students and scholars in History and Philosophy of Science and will be instructive for and provide a challenge to philosophers, historians and scientists more generally.

Content:
Front Matter....Pages I-XII
Atomism: Science or Philosophy?....Pages 1-17
Democritean Atomism....Pages 19-41
How does Epicurus’s Garden Grow?....Pages 43-58
Atomism in its Ancient Greek Perspective....Pages 59-74
From the Ancient Greeks to the Dawn of Science....Pages 75-95
Atomism, Experiment and the Mechanical Philosophy: The Work of Robert Boyle....Pages 97-122
Newton’s Atomism and its Fate....Pages 123-138
The Emergence of Modern Chemistry With No Debt to Atomism....Pages 139-171
Dalton’s Atomism and its Creative Modification via Chemical Formulae....Pages 173-198
From Avogadro to Cannizzaro: The Old Story....Pages 199-213
Thermodynamics and the Kinetic Theory....Pages 215-231
Experimental Contact with Molecules....Pages 233-246
Experimental Contact with Electrons....Pages 247-260
Atomism Vindicated?....Pages 261-268
Back Matter....Pages 269-287
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