- University of Bristol, Philosophy, Department Memberadd
- I am a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow, running the project CReaCaL: Chemical Reactions as Causes and Laws. Previousl... moreI am a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow, running the project CReaCaL: Chemical Reactions as Causes and Laws. Previously, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher on the project NoMoS in the University Athens and on the ERC-funded MetaScience Project in the University of Bristol. I am interested in examining issues of the philosophy of science from the perspective of chemistry. Currently, my work focuses on the metaphysics of chemistry, the relation between chemistry and quantum physics, and scientific realism.(I am a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow, running the project CReaCaL: Chemical Reactions as Causes and Laws. Previously, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher on the project NoMoS in the University Athens and on the ERC-funded MetaScience Project in the University of Bristol. I am interested in examining issues of the philosophy of science from the perspective of chemistry. Currently, my work focuses on the metaphysics of chemistry, the relation between chemistry and quantum physics, and scientific realism.)edit
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Philosophy of chemistry – that is a thing! Whether one thinks of it as a separate field of philosophy or as a sub-discipline within the more general philosophy of science (who cares anyway!), there is no doubt that chemistry provokes... more
Philosophy of chemistry – that is a thing! Whether one thinks of it as a separate field of philosophy or as a sub-discipline within the more general philosophy of science (who cares anyway!), there is no doubt that chemistry provokes interesting philosophical questions. The aim of this article is to sketch the main philosophical issues that are investigated from the perspective of chemistry and in this way explain what people mean when they say that they are doing research on the philosophy of chemistry.
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There is a persisting debate about what chemical bonds are and whether they exist. I argue that chemical bonds are real patterns of interactions between subatomic particles. This proposal resolves the problems raised in the context of... more
There is a persisting debate about what chemical bonds are and whether they exist. I argue that chemical bonds are real patterns of interactions between subatomic particles. This proposal resolves the problems raised in the context of existing understandings of the chemical bond and provides a novel way to defend the reality of chemical bonds.
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How do we refer to chemical substances, and in particular to chemical elements? This question relates to many philosophical questions, including whether or not theories are incommensurable, the extent to which past theories are later... more
How do we refer to chemical substances, and in particular to chemical elements? This question relates to many philosophical questions, including whether or not theories are incommensurable, the extent to which past theories are later discarded, and issues about scientific realism. This chapter considers the first explicit reference to types of colorless air in late-eighteenth-century chemical practice. Reference to a gas by one chemist was generally intended to give others epistemological, methodological, and practical access to the gas. This chapter proposes a causal-descriptive theory of reference for chemical substances. Implications for debates about incommensurability and realism are also briefly noted.
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Η εργασία παρουσιάζει το λογισμικό ΤΕΕ-ΚΕΝΑΚ με το οποίο γίνεται εφαρμογή σε ένα τυπικό κτίριο επεμβάσεις εξοικονόμησης ενέργειας. Έπειτα, πραγματοποιείται οικονομική αξιολόγηση των ενεργειακών επεμβάσεων.
I argue that molecules may not have structure in isolation. I support this by investigating how quantum models identify structure for isolated molecules. Specifically, I distinguish between two sets of models: those that identify... more
I argue that molecules may not have structure in isolation. I support this by investigating how quantum models identify structure for isolated molecules. Specifically, I distinguish between two sets of models: those that identify structure in isolation and those that do not. The former identify structure because they presuppose structural information about the target system via the BornOppenheimer approximation. However, it is an idealisation to assume structure in isolation because there is no empirical evidence of this. In fact, whenever structure is empirically examined it is always partially determined by factors that are absent in isolation. Together with the growing empirical evidence that isolated molecules behave in non-classical ways, this shows that the quantum models that do not identify structure are more faithful representations of isolated molecules. Preprint of chapter In upcoming Book: Philosophical Perspectives on Quantum Chemistry, ed. by Olimpia Lombardi, 1 Sebast...
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The investigation of the relation between chemistry and quantum mechanics includes examining how the two theories each describe an isolated molecule. This paper focuses on one particular characteristic of chemistry’s and quantum... more
The investigation of the relation between chemistry and quantum mechanics includes examining how the two theories each describe an isolated molecule. This paper focuses on one particular characteristic of chemistry’s and quantum mechanics’ descriptions of an isolated molecule; namely on the assumptions made by each description that an isolated molecule is stable and has structure. The paper argues that these assumptions are an idealisation. First, this is because stability and structure are partially determined by factors that concern the context in which a molecule is considered (i.e. thermodynamic conditions, time-range of experiment, environment, etc.). Secondly, the stability and structure of a molecule can only be empirically identified with reference to those factors. This paper examines these assumptions in the context of the philosophical literature on idealisations. This examination is a novel contribution that raises interesting questions about the relation between the two...
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Review of Essays in the Philosophy of Chemistry, edited by Eric Scerri and Grant Fisher, New York, Oxford University Press, 2016, x + 410 pp., ISBN 9780190494599
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One of the most plausible and widely discussed examples of strong emergence is molecular structure. The only detailed account of it, which has been very influential, is due to Robin Hendry and is formulated in terms of downward causation.... more
One of the most plausible and widely discussed examples of strong emergence is molecular structure. The only detailed account of it, which has been very influential, is due to Robin Hendry and is formulated in terms of downward causation. This paper explains Hendry’s account of the strong emergence of molecular structure and argues that it is coherent only if one assumes a diachronic reflexive notion of downward causation. However, in the context of this notion of downward causation, the strong emergence of molecular structure faces three challenges that have not been met and which have so far remained unnoticed. First, the putative empirical evidence presented for the strong emergence of molecular structure equally undermines supervenience, which is one of the main tenets of strong emergence. Secondly, it is ambiguous how the assumption of determinate nuclear positions is invoked for the support of strong emergence, as the role of this assumption in Hendry’s argument can be interpr...
Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. However, if you have discovered material within the thesis that you consider to be... more
Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. However, if you have discovered material within the thesis that you consider to be unlawful e.g. breaches of copyright (either yours or that of a third party) or any other law, including but not limited to those relating to patent, trademark, confidentiality, data protection, obscenity, defamation, libel, then please contact collections-metadata@bristol.ac.uk and include the following information in your message:
One of the most plausible and widely discussed examples of strong emergence is molecular structure. The only detailed account of it, which has been very influential, is due to Robin Hendry and is formulated in terms of downward causation.... more
One of the most plausible and widely discussed examples of strong emergence is molecular structure. The only detailed account of it, which has been very influential, is due to Robin Hendry and is formulated in terms of downward causation. This paper explains Hendry's account of the strong emergence of molecular structure and argues that it is coherent only if one assumes a diachronic reflexive notion of downward causation. However , in the context of this notion of downward causation, the strong emergence of molecular structure faces three challenges that have not been met and which have so far remained unnoticed. First, the putative empirical evidence presented for the strong emergence of molecular structure equally undermines supervenience, which is one of the main tenets of strong emergence. Secondly, it is ambiguous how the assumption of determinate nuclear positions is invoked for the support of strong emergence, as the role of this assumption in Hendry's argument can be interpreted in more than one way. Lastly, there are understandings of causation which render the postulation of a downward causal relation between a molecule's structure and its quantum mechanical entities, untenable.
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The aim of this article is to present a different perspective through which to examine reduction and emergence; namely, the perspective of chemistry’s relation to physics.
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The investigation of the relation between chemistry and quantum mechanics includes examining how the two theories each describe an isolated molecule. This paper focuses on one particular characteristic of chemistry's and quantum... more
The investigation of the relation between chemistry and quantum mechanics includes examining how the two theories each describe an isolated molecule. This paper focuses on one particular characteristic of chemistry's and quantum mechanics' descriptions of an isolated molecule; namely on the assumptions made by each description that an isolated molecule is stable and has structure. The paper argues that these assumptions are an ide-alisation. First, this is because stability and structure are partially determined by factors that concern the context in which a molecule is considered (i.e. thermodynamic conditions , time-range of experiment, environment, etc.). Secondly, the stability and structure of a molecule can only be empirically identified with reference to those factors. This paper examines these assumptions in the context of the philosophical literature on idealisations. This examination is a novel contribution that raises interesting questions about the relation between the two theories, the nature of stability and structure, and the function of these assumptions in the two theories.
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Harold Kincaid in Individualism and the Unity of Science postulates a model of unity-without-reduction in order to accurately describe the relation between individualism and macroeconomics. I present this model and apply it to the... more
Harold Kincaid in Individualism and the Unity of Science postulates a model of unity-without-reduction in order to accurately describe the relation between individualism and macroeconomics. I present this model and apply it to the description of the relation between chemistry and quantum mechanics. I argue that, when it comes to the description of molecular structure, chemistry and quantum mechanics are unified in Kincaid's sense. Specifically, the two disciplines contribute to the formation of a unified body of knowledge with respect to molecular structure.
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Review of Essays in the Philosophy of Chemistry, edited by Eric Scerri and Grant Fisher, New York, Oxford University Press, 2016, x + 410 pp., ISBN 9780190494599
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Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Philosophy of chemistry – that is a thing! Whether one thinks of it as a separate field of philosophy or as a sub-discipline within the more general philosophy of science (who cares anyway!), there is no doubt that chemistry provokes... more
Philosophy of chemistry – that is a thing! Whether one thinks of it as a separate field of philosophy or as a sub-discipline within the more general philosophy of science (who cares anyway!), there is no doubt that chemistry provokes interesting philosophical questions. The aim of this article is to sketch the main philosophical issues that are investigated from the perspective of chemistry and in this way explain what people mean when they say that they are doing research on the philosophy of chemistry.