Chapter 7: Concepts and Ontology: What Kind of Things Exist in the World of Chemistry?
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Published:29 Apr 2019
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Special Collection: 2019 ebook collectionSeries: Advances in Chemistry Education
The Nature of the Chemical Concept: Re-constructing Chemical Knowledge in Teaching and Learning, The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2019, ch. 7, pp. 112-133.
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Science depends upon an assumption that nature does not comprise of a discontinuous range of phenomena, but rather that the objects and events observed in the natural word can be classified into a limited number of characterisable kinds. A natural kind has certain essential features, and this can be understood as the basis of how a science such as chemistry can offer generalisable knowledge of the world: the melting temperature of any pure sample of copper; the ionisation energy of sodium; the shape of ‘the’ ammonia molecule; the bond angle in water molecules, etcetera. Even if this metaphysical assumption (that there are natural kinds) is valid, there are important questions about how we identify and characterise such kinds (what are their essential properties) and which classes used in chemistry (oxidising agents; halogens; displacement reactions…?) represent convenient practical kinds rather than genuine natural kinds. This chapter explores this issue, as well as the ways we may habitually use language reflecting assumptions about natural kinds that may need to be unpacked for learners.