Beyond Reduction:Contextualized Studies On Theory Of Chemistry

Reductionism has been an interesting view and school which once gave a deep impact on history of philosophy. In the past40years, however, antireductionism arguments have become a mainstream in philosophy of science. Based on the conceptual analysis, the paper attempted to evaluate the reduction of chemistry to physics and understand the chemical theories according to chemical facts.The paper studied two aspects of question aimed at chemical reductionism. One is analyzing two important chemical concepts which is a strategy for studies, element and molecular structure, but not keeping on entangling the approximate aspects of quantum chemical calculation. The other emphases is systematically investigated the origins and limits of reductionism and analyzed models of reduction.So, the paper consists of a preface, five systematic discussions and remarks.The preface reviewed briefly the domestic and overseas research condition about philosophy of chemistry and the related question to whether chemistry is reducible to physics, introduced the train of thought, illustrate the meaning and value of the paper.There is a systematic tracing on the origins and theoretical foundations of reductionism and introducing thesis on reduction of chemistry to physics in chapter1. As a philosophical doctrine and tenet, the reductionism comes from the fact that philosopher pursue the unity of science and hierarchical argument of the world. However, there are fatal objections in microphysicalism which derived from hierarchy.According to the chemical theories, an inquiry into three models of reduction and reveal the troubles and the shorts of them in chapter2.The3and4chapter has focused on history of chemical concepts to show that first principle quantum mechanics can not represent the periodicity of chemical element and molecular structure, which is central to most chemical theories, because of their dependence on context. So, epistemological reduction is impossible.The final section is the conclusions of this paper. The debates about should not focus all attention on quantum chemistry’s approximate approach of calculations, but on latent aspects of chemical concepts and theories. From the development of chemical theories, advance on essential-reality concepts is consistent with the meaning of reduction. The applications and pursuance of reductive approach is effective performance for emergence and development of a science. But, the contextual independence of concepts and theories determined the holistic attributions and irreducible to foundational theories. So, it is important to keeping necessary tension between reductions and autonomous.