A quick question! Who’s the first name that comes to mind when the periodic table is mentioned? Dmitrii Ivanovich Mendeleev is the obvious and universal answer. And the second name? Most of you would probably agree with my answer: Eric R. Scerri, Lecturer in Chemistry and History and Philosophy of Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and founding editor of this journal, devoted to the philosophy of chemistry, another of his specialties.Through the years I have followed Scerri’s work (...) on the periodic table, reading his numerous articles and reviewing his two previous books (Scerri 2007; Laing and Kauffman 2007; Scerri 2009; Kauffman 2011). In his latest book he comprehensively but succinctly examines this true cultural iconic symbol of science that is used by artists, advertisers, and of course, scientists in all fields. It is almost as familiar to the general public as the chemical formula for water, and an understanding and appreciation for it is essential to the physi. (shrink)

Christian Wilhelm Blomstrand, Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy at Lund University from 1862 to 1895, was one of the important chemists of the second half of the nineteenth century. His theoretical ideas and experimental accomplishments contributed to advances in several branches of chemistry. Living in Sweden during a transitional period between the older and newer chemistry and being a scientific as well as a political conservative, Blomstrand sought to reconcile Berzelius's dualistic theory with the unitary and type theories. He was (...) opposed to Kekulé's dogma of constant valency, and he strove to establish a sound and complete theory of variable valency. This article briefly outlines Blomstrand's life and considers his best known book, Die Chemie der Jetztzeit , as well as his work on mineralogy, inorganic chemistry , and his theoretical views on valency, diazo compounds, and metal-ammines. His so-called ‘chain theory’, as developed and modified by his fellow Scandinavian chemist and close friend, Sophus Mads Jørgensen, was for more than three decades the most popular and successful of the numerous attempts to explain the constitution, properties, and reactions of coordination compounds. (shrink)

The iconic status of the periodic table of the elements has been recognized by a variety of prominent chemists and historians of science. For example, John Emsley proclaimed: “As long as chemistry is studied there will be a periodic table. And even if someday we communicate with another part of the universe, we can be sure that one thing that both cultures will have in common is an ordered system of the elements that will be instantly recognizable by both intelligent (...) life forms” .Furthermore, its paramount significance is universally recognized even far beyond the field of chemistry. According to the late American astronomer Harlow Shapley , “[The periodic table] is probably the most compact and meaningful compilation of knowledge that man has yet devised. The periodic table does for matter what the geological age table does for cosmic time. Its history is the story of man’s great conquests in the microcosmos” .Of course, philosopher of science Eri .. (shrink)

Besides the book under review here, the “30-Second” series of books includes numerous titles such as those on anatomy, architecture, astronomy, the Bible, brain, economics, maths, mythology, philosophies, politics, psychology, religion, and theories.Together with eight contributors, each a leading authority with a proven track record for successfully explaining science to a general audience, Eric Scerri, Lecturer in Chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles; founder and editor of this journal; and the undisputed world authority on the history and philosophy (...) of the periodic table, has edited this most attractive addition to the series.The chemical elements, the separate building blocks of our physical universe, lend themselves ideally to this 30-second approach. In his introduction to the volume Scerri briefly sketches the plan of the book and discusses the evolution of the periodic table from Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev’s original proposal to the latest developments in the .. (shrink)

The “story behind the story” of the genesis of this book is an involved and fascinating one. In May the Sven and Dagmar Salén Foundation decided to give a grant to Ulf Lagerqvist to permit publication of his manuscript titled The Bewildered Nobel Committee by the World Scientific Publishing Company . This decision was based on a thorough review by Torbjörn Norin, Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Royal School of Technology in Stockholm and a member of the board of (...) the foundation. Unfortunately, Lagerqvist, a Professor of Biochemistry and Chairman of Medical and Physiological Chemistry at Gothenburg University, Sweden , member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, influential researcher on the metabolism of the components of the nucleic acids in the rapidly developing field of molecular biology, and an outstanding writer popularizing the history of science since his retirement , di .. (shrink)

In Thomas Thomson's System of chemistry of 1802 Bergman and Scheele are actually considered as creators of the analytical concept of an element. With regard to this, a detailed investigation of the work of Bergman and Scheele shows that Thomson's statement contains mistakes as well as inadmissable simplifications and generalizations. It is correct, however, that Bergman in 1774–1777 specifically anticipated in essential aspects the analytical element concept proposed by Lavoisier in 1787–1789.

George A. Olah, Alain Goeppert and G. K. Surya Prakash (eds): Beyond oil and gas: the methanol economy, 2nd updated and enlarged edition Content Type Journal Article Category Book Review Pages 1-2 DOI 10.1007/s10698-011-9141-x Authors George B. Kauffman, Department of Chemistry, California State University, Fresno, Fresno, CA 93740-8034, USA Journal Foundations of Chemistry Online ISSN 1572-8463 Print ISSN 1386-4238.

Bob B. He: Two-dimensional X-ray diffraction Content Type Journal Article Category Book Review Pages 1-2 DOI 10.1007/s10698-011-9135-8 Authors George B. Kauffman, Department of Chemistry, California State University, Fresno, Fresno, CA 93740-8034, USA Journal Foundations of Chemistry Online ISSN 1572-8463 Print ISSN 1386-4238.

István Hargittai: Judging Edward Teller: A closer look at one of the most influential scientists of the twentieth century Content Type Journal Article Category Book Review Pages 1-3 DOI 10.1007/s10698-011-9133-x Authors George B. Kauffman, Department of Chemistry, California State University, Fresno, Fresno, CA 93740-8034, USA Journal Foundations of Chemistry Online ISSN 1572-8463 Print ISSN 1386-4238.

Dreyfus examines the central ideas of Dharmakīrti, one of the most important Indian Buddhist philosophers, and their reception among Tibetan thinkers. During the golden age of ancient Indian civilization, Dharmakīrti articulated and defended Buddhist philosophical principles. He did so more systematically than anyone before his time (the seventh century CE) and was followed by a rich tradition of profound thinkers in India and Tibet. This work presents a detailed picture of this Buddhist tradition and its relevance to the history of (...) human ideas. Its perspective is mostly philosophical, but it also uses historical considerations as they relate to the evolution of ideas. (shrink)

What is it to be a woman? What is it to be a man? We start by laying out desiderata for an analysis of 'woman' and 'man': descriptively, it should link these gender categories to sex biology without reducing them to sex biology, and politically, it should help us explain and combat traditional sexism while also allowing us to make sense of the activist view that gendering should be consensual. Using a Putnam-style 'Twin Earth' example, we argue that none of (...) the existing analyses in the feminist literature succeeds in meeting all of our desiderata. Finally, we propose a positive account that we believe can satisfy all the desiderata outlined. According to our theory, the genders 'woman' and 'man' are individuated not by their contemporary connections to sex biology, but by their historical continuity with classes that were originally closely connected to sex biology. (shrink)

This chapter explores how what is dismissed as “trans activism” is often public philosophy. It considers how so‐called “public philosophy” on trans issues often does a substantially worse job of living up to the name. The chapter discusses how the dichotomy between “trans activism” and “public philosophy” provides a pretext for marginalizing trans voices. To draw on Black feminist philosophical thought, lived experience is a criterion for knowledge of the needs of marginalized people. Like other marginalized communities, trans communities have (...) encountered many areas in which hermeneutical liberation is needed. Public philosophy as trans activism is often systemically and systematically ignored or willfully misinterpreted as being biased and motivated by self‐interest, whereas anti‐trans (public) philosophy is seen as asking the important questions. (shrink)

Although a personal god of mixed moral character is logically possible, no personal god that has been represented as less than wholly good has gained more than a strictly local appeal. The Judaeo-Christian god is no exception. The god is represented as merciful, kind, longsuffering, forgiving, loving - in a word, wholly good. Of course, representing a god as wholly good is one thing; providing a convincing defence of his goodness is quite another. Indeed, many would contend that of all (...) the defences provided within the Judaeo-Christian system, the defence of the goodness of God is the least convincing. (shrink)

This article presents a new criticisms of reductive approaches to knowledge-‘wh’ (i.e., those approaches on which whether one stands in the knowledge-‘wh’ relation to a question is determined by whether one stands in the knowledge-‘that’ relation to some answer(s) to the question). It argues in particular that the truth of a knowledge-‘wh’ attribution like ‘Janna knows where she can buy an Italian newspaper’ depends not only on what Janna knows about the availability of Italian newspapers, but on what she believes (...) about the matter. This dependence of Janna's knowledge-‘wh’ on her (possibly false) beliefs is incompatible with the reductive approach. (shrink)

To date, there have been few attempts to compare the thought of Confucius and Kierkegaard, and these few attempts have focused on the contrast between Kierkegaard’s stress on the individual and Confucius’s emphasis on the social aspect of human existence. In this article, I point instead to substantial agreement between the analyses of ethical existence offered by Confucius and two of Kierkegaard’s pseudonymous figures, Judge William of Either/Or and Johannes Climacus of The Concluding Unscientific Postscript . I seek to use (...) this parallelism to better discern the specific character of Confucius’s religious consciousness. (shrink)

In spite of the fact that it is required only occasionally for sanitary reasons and not legally mandatory, the practice of embalming is widespread in contemporary American society. This study explores the historical, cultural and psychological factors which gave rise to the practice of embalming and why the practice continues. Two case studies are presented in which delayed grief reactions were present; linkages with embalming are described. It is suggested that the frightening finitude of the self and a fear of (...) death in modern society have led to practices in which the corpse is viewed as looking natural, thus denying the reality of death. Embalming is seen as the final assault on the self, which can also carry with it problematic psychological consequences for the survivors. (shrink)