The discovery that water is H2O

International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 16 (3):205 – 226 (2002)
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Abstract

What are the criteria determining the individuation of chemical kinds? Recent philosophical discussion, which puts too much emphasis on microstructure, seems to presuppose a reductionist conception not motivated by the scientific facts. The present article traces the development of the traditional notion of a substance with the rise of modern chemistry from the end of the 18th century with a view to correcting this speculative distortion.

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10.1080/0269859022000013300

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Paul Needham
Stockholm University

Citations of this work

Natural kinds.Emma Tobin & Alexander Bird - 2009 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Representational Kinds.Joulia Smortchkova & Michael Murez - 2020 - In Joulia Smortchkova, Krzysztof Dołęga & Tobias Schlicht, What Are Mental Representations? New York, NY, United States of America: Oxford University Press.

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References found in this work

What is Water?Paul Needham - 2000 - Analysis 60 (1):13-21.
Rigidity and kind.Joseph LaPorte - 2000 - Philosophical Studies 97 (3):293-316.
The epistemological status of the chemical concept of element.F. A. Paneth - 1962 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 13 (50):144-160.
Models and approximations in quantum chemistry.Robin Findlay Hendry - 1998 - Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities 63:123-142.
Quantities.Helen Morris Cartwright - 1970 - Philosophical Review 79 (1):25-42.

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