In September 1999 "Nature" magazine announced that atomic orbitals were di-rectly observed. Opposing it, Eric Scerri, editor-in-chief of "Foundations of Chemistry", claimed that what could be observed in the experiment was electron density, not orbitals. The main purpose of this paper is to consider philosophical and methodological aspects of the above controversy. Especially, the problems of direct observability and reality of theoretical entities are taken under detailed discussion. From the point of view of quantum mechanics there are not any reasons (...) to believe that orbitals exist. However, realistically treated orbitals are very effective tools in the laboratory practice of chemistry. (shrink)

The paper is focused on some aspects of experimental realism of Ian Hacking, and especially on his manipulability criterion of existence. The problem is here related to chemical molecules, the objects of interest in chemical research. The authors consider whether and to what extent this criterion has been applied in experimental practice of chemistry. They argue that experimentation on is a fundamental criterion of existence of entities in chemistry rather than experimentation with. Some examples regarding studies of structures of complex (...) compounds, taken from organic chemistry, are presented to support the authors' considerations. Chemists' laboratory practice depends strongly on the way that representations of entities on (or with) the experiments are used. The authors show that this point has not been given sufficient attention by the new experimentalists. (shrink)

Wśród filozofów nauki panuje rozpowszechnione przekonanie, że spór o realizm nie wpływa w sposób istotny na praktykę badawczą nauk przyrodniczych, a postawa realistyczna jest naturalnym stanowiskiem epistemologicznym przyjmowanym przez przyrodników. W artykule podana jest argumentacja na rzecz tezy, że w naukach przyrodniczych są formułowane koncepcje teoretyczne, które wywołują wśród uczonych istotne kontrowersje poznawcze, które nie pozostają bez wpływu na ich praktykę badawczą. Rozważona zostanie teza Gastona Bachelarda, że przezwyciężenie przez daną dziedzinę nauki realistycznego ‘obciążenia’ jej aparatu konceptualnego ma istotny wpływ (...) na jej rozwój. Prowadzone rozważania będą opierały się na analizie przykładów wziętych z praktyki badawczej chemii XIX i początku XX wieku, w której dyskutowano problem statusu poznawczego przekonań, dotyczących istnienia odniesień przedmiotowych takich pojęć, jak: atom, wzór strukturalny czy wiązanie chemiczne. (shrink)

The paper is focused on the role of philosophy of chemistry in the philosophy of natural sciences. The author claims that chemistry is a paradigmatic example of laboratory science in Ian Hacking’s sense. Therefore a philosophical and methodological analysis of chemistry can change or modify several theses of the philosophy of natural sciences. Some of them are as follows: the stability of laboratory science; the primacy of experimental practice over the theoretical one in chemistry; the problem of the reduction of (...) chemistry to physics; the influence of scientific instruments on the growth of chemical knowledge; the problem of the empirical criteria of the existence of theoretical entities; the role of theoretical models and theoretical modelling in laboratory sciences; the problem of using the principle of inter- subjective testability in chemistry; the semiotic peculiarities of chemistry. (shrink)

The main aim of this paper is to present the motivation of the thesis that theoretical models con not fulfill the function of representation. The author analyses examples of such models used in molecular quantum mechanics.

In the paper entitled “Scientific Explanation and Metaphor” Jerzy Kmita divided all metaphors on reporting and explicative ones. He assumed that the explicative metaphors could play a cognitive function in science, and also characterized them according to Max Black’s interactive theory of metaphor. The main purpose of my paper is to analyse Kmita’s explicative conception of metaphor in the view of Lakoff & Johnson’s cognitive theory of metaphor. I attempt to show that metaphors play an important role in a process (...) of making knowledge, especially in a conceptualization of domain being studied. In spite of an interactive account of metaphor I claim that making use of a metaphor is a process, which proceeds only in the one direction. In the last section of the paper I briefly analyse a few examples of metaphors used in natural sciences. (shrink)