Rein Vihalemm: ‘On the Transition to Quantitative Inquiry in Chemistry’
Rein Vihalemm: ‘On the Transition to Quantitative Inquiry in Chemistry’

Summary/Abstract: In the works on the history of chemistry, categories are often applied uncritically, with a disregard for philosophical studies. As a result, many logical transitions in the motion of cognition in the field of chemistry have remained unnoticed. In this paper, I observe the logical aspect of the development of certain concepts in the history of chemistry from the perspective of the transition from qualitative to quantitative inquiry. As is known, the first integral conception in chemistry was the so-called phlogiston theory. While the phlogiston theory explained chemical transformations from the qualitative aspect, primarily the observable opposite processes of oxidation and reduction, then in the next stage chemists focused their full attention on the measurement of the weight and volume of chemical substances. This allowed to overturn the relations found by chemists-phlogistonists. [...]

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