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The physicists, the chemists, and the pragmatics of explanation
Philosophy of Science 71 (5):1048-1059 (2004)
Abstract
In this paper I investigate two views of theoretical explanation in quantum chemistry, advocated by John Clarke Slater and Charles Coulson. Slater argued for quantum‐mechanical rigor, and the primacy of fundamental principles in models of chemical bonding. Coulson emphasized systematic explanatory power within chemistry, and continuity with existing chemical explanations. I relate these views to the epistemic contexts of their disciplines.Author's Profile
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Citations of this work
Ontological reduction and molecular structure.Robin Findlay Hendry - 2010 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 41 (2):183-191.
Why molecular structure cannot be strictly reduced to quantum mechanics.Juan Camilo Martínez González, Sebastian Fortin & Olimpia Lombardi - 2018 - Foundations of Chemistry 21 (1):31-45.
The strong emergence of molecular structure.Vanessa A. Seifert - 2020 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 10 (3):1-25.
Isomerism and decoherence.Juan Camilo Martínez González, Olimpia Lombardi & Sebastian Fortin - 2016 - Foundations of Chemistry 18 (3):225-240.
Is the problem of molecular structure just the quantum measurement problem?Sebastian Fortin & Olimpia Lombardi - 2021 - Foundations of Chemistry 23 (3):379-395.
References found in this work
The rise and fall of british emergentism.Brian P. Mclaughlin - 1992 - In Ansgar Beckermann, Hans Flohr & Jaegwon Kim, Emergence or Reduction?: Prospects for Nonreductive Physicalism. New York: De Gruyter. pp. 49-93.
The Rise and Fall of British Emergentism.Brian P. Mclaughlin - 1992 - In Ansgar Beckermann, Hans Flohr & Jaegwon Kim, Emergence or Reduction?: Prospects for Nonreductive Physicalism. New York: De Gruyter. pp. 49-93.
Models and approximations in quantum chemistry.Robin Findlay Hendry - 1998 - Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities 63:123-142.
Qualitative theory and chemical explanation.Michael Weisberg - 2004 - Philosophy of Science 71 (5):1071-1081.
Putting quantum mechanics to work in chemistry: The power of diagrammatic representation.Andrea I. Woody - 2000 - Philosophy of Science 67 (3):627.
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