The philosophy of chemistry: ten years later

Abstract

It has been exactly 10 years since the last special issue of Synthese was devoted exclusively to the philosophy of chemistry, which itself marked a first in the field. At that time (in 1997) philosophy of chemistry was still struggling for recognition and it was in no small part the boost in visibility that Synthese provided that helped to found the discipline. A lot has changed in the last 10 years. For one thing, it no longer seems valid to claim that work in the philosophy of chem istry is neglected. As the work of its practitioners has demonstrated the philosophical merits of turning our attention to the special problems of reduction, emergence, laws, supervenience, and explanation as they exist in chemistry, so the reputation of the field has grown. Correspondingly, the venues for work in the philosophy of chemistry have multiplied. There are now not just one but two journals that are specifically devoted to work in the philosophy of chemistry: Foundations of Chemistry1 and Hyle2 (both of which are available both in print and on-line). Several excellent monographs and anthologies have recently been published3 and more are on the way (Scerri, 2006). The International Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry (ISPC) now boasts a mem bership of 145 people from 28 countries and its 10th annual meeting is due to be held in Split, Croatia from August 6th-10th, 2006.4 Philosophers of chemistry no longer have to beg for a place on the biennial program of the Philosophy of Science Associ ation (PSA) either. The prestigious Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science just devoted its first title to work in the philosophy of chemistry (Baird, Scerri, & Mclntyre, 2006). And there are now various small conferences and symposia at colleges and