Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
On such occasions, the expert
s recourse to seamlessly juxtaposing qualitative and
quantitative thinking whenever possible (ala Jeppsson), enables powerful inferen-
tial moves facilitated by a range of mathematical formulae. The whole range of
modes, from concrete metaphor to abstract mathematical relation, is used in various
stages of scientific inquiry, whether the inquirer is novice or expert. The differences
between them emerge with the sophistication of abstractions, on the one hand, and
the facility of movement between abstraction and concreteness when need and
opportunity arise.
'
9.6 A Chemical Concept of Metaphor: Reconsidering
the Chemical Element
Let us return at last to the definition of chemical element, as established by IUPAC.
I consider the most intriguing part of Paneth
s formulation of this concept of
element to be the necessity of
schwanken
, the oscillation
21
between the abstract
transcendental and the concrete na¨ve realist view. In an earlier section of this
chapter we noted that this definition suspends the concept of element in a space of
speculation between the two poles in much the same way that metaphor suspends
judgment between intersecting sets of alternative meanings. Where definitions
are intended to attenuate the inherent polysemy of language, metaphor activates
multiple sets. The unique feature of the IUPAC definition, seen below, is that it
wants it both ways: the distinction is spelled out in the second definition but
withdrawn by the end:
'
1.
A species of atoms
; all atoms with the same number of protons in the atomic nucleus.
2.
A pure chemical substance
composed of atoms with the same number of protons in the
atomic nucleus. Sometimes this concept is called the elementary substance as distinct
from the chemical element as defined under 1, but mostly the term chemical element is
used for both concepts. [
http://goldbook.iupac.org/C01022.html
]
It is interesting that both definitions of chemical element are deemed necessary,
that neither can be reduced to its partner, nor can both be reduced to a simpler
definition. Two definitions of element are brought together as partner terms in a
metaphor. There is an irreducible space between them and this is what metaphor
posits between similars. The relation between them is not only semantic or syntactic,
it is pragmatic: it does what Hesse refers to as taking a “stance” on the world.
The relational space between the definitions draws on potential domains of
application, potential relevance-determining contexts. The chemist
spracticeis
shaped by existing theoretical models that
more or less
fit the experiment design,
'
21
Mahootian
2013
“Paneth
s epistemology of chemical elements in light of Kant
s
Opus
'
'
postumum
.”
Foundations of Chemistry
15:171-184.
