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"What happened to phlogiston? Reconsidering the Chemical Revolution"
Major theory-shifts in science, such as the transition in the late 18th century from a phlogiston-based chemistry to something more like modern chemistry, raise a number of philosophical questions. Among these are the question of accounting for the shift, and whether it can be regarded as rational. This talk looks at the so-called Chemical Revolution with these questions in mind. The shift involved a shift in multiple theoretical presuppositions, in commitments about the basic substances that make up the world, and also a shift in methodology. Philosophical attempts to account for the shift have tended to be holistic, following Kuhn who treated the case as one of rival paradigms to be embraced or rejected as package deals. However, the components are logically independent, and it is possible to accept certain aspects of Lavoisier’s novel approach to chemistry while rejecting others. This is key to understanding the shift. I will argue that, for one key tenet of Lavoisierian chemistry, there was something like a “crucial experiment,” and that, though acceptance of this tenet was not incompatible with retaining phlogiston, it eventually led to the downfall of the phlogiston theory.
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Posted:
4/10/2015
Originator:
Debrajean Wheeler Wheeler
Email:
N/A
Department:
Philosophy
Event Information
Time: 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Event Date: 4/10/2015
Location:
Philosophy Room 260
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