Abstract
From a philosophical point of view, one of the more significant changes in chemical ontology from the late sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century is the shift from a vitalistic conception of fundamental corpuscles, to a mechanistic atomism, to an operational notion of chemical elements. This essay proposes to discuss some of the key figures in this ontological shift, focusing on the ideas of van Helmont, Sennert, Gassendi, Boyle, and Lavoisier. The essay examines the relationship between the work of late sixteenth century chymists and that of the mechanistic atomists to illustrate the fact that the atomistic framework of the late seventeenth century was intimately dependent upon the earlier work of vitalistic corpuscularian alchemists and chymists. In addition to tracing the influences of vitalistic corpuscularianism on the shift to a mechanistic atomistic ontology, this essay also establishes historical antecedents, in the work of Sennert and Boyle, for Lavoisier’s operational and analytical definition of chemical elements.
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Notes
- 1.
Debus (1977), pp. 545–547.
- 2.
Ibid.
- 3.
Ibid.
- 4.
Rocke (1984), pp. 4–5.
- 5.
Clericuzio (1994), p. 53.
- 6.
Ibid.
- 7.
Banchetti-Robino (2011), pp. 173–186.
- 8.
Clericuzio (2000), p. 56.
- 9.
Ibid.
- 10.
Ibid, pp. 58–59.
- 11.
Ibid, p. 60.
- 12.
Ibid, pp. 57–58.
- 13.
Ibid, p. 56.
- 14.
Ibid, pp. 58–61.
- 15.
Debus (1977), p. 327.
- 16.
Ibid, p. 192.
- 17.
Newman (2006), p. 97.
- 18.
Bensaude-Vincent and Stengers (1996), p. 37.
- 19.
Newman, p. 99.
- 20.
Sennert (1619), p. 32.
- 21.
Ibid, pp. 99–100.
- 22.
Ibid, p. 136.
- 23.
Ibid, pp. 138–139.
- 24.
Rossi (2001), p. 122.
- 25.
Ibid, p. 125.
- 26.
Ibid.
- 27.
Newman, pp. 191–192.
- 28.
Ibid, p. 192.
- 29.
Pinet (2004), pp. 67–82.
- 30.
Shapin and Schaffer (2011), p. 202.
- 31.
Boas Hall (1968), p. 21.
- 32.
Ibid, p. 27.
- 33.
Ibid.
- 34.
Anstey (2011), p. 21.
- 35.
Hendry (2006), p. 865.
- 36.
“De même que dans l’enfant l’idée est un effet de la sensation, que c’est la sensation qui fait naître l’idée; de même aussi pour celui qui commence à se livrer à l’étude des science physiques, les idées ne doivent être qu’une conséquence, une suite immédiate d’une expérience ou d’une observation.” [Lavoisier, Antoine-Laurent, Traité Élémentaire de Chimie, Vol. 1 (Paris: 1789), p. viii].
- 37.
“[J]e me suis imposé la loi de ne procéder jamais que du connu à l’inconnu, de ne déduire aucune conséquence qui ne dérive immédiatement des expériences & des observations.” [Lavoisier, Antoine-Laurent, Traité Élémentaire de Chimie, Vol. 1 (Paris: 1789), pp. x–xi].
- 38.
Ibid, p. 866.
- 39.
“Si par le nom d’élémens, nous entendons désigner les molécules simple & indivisibles qui composent les corps, il est probable que nous ne les connoisons pas: que si au contraire nous attachons au nom d’élémens ou de principe des corps l’idée du dernier terme auquel parvient l’analyse, toutes les substances que nous n’avons encore pu décomposer par aucun moyen, sont pour nous des élémens.” [Lavoisier, Antoine-Laurent, Traité Élémentaire de Chimie, Vol. 1 (Paris: 1789), p. xii].
- 40.
Hendry (2012), p. 66.
- 41.
Ibid.
- 42.
Levere (2001).
- 43.
Ibid, p. 80.
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Banchetti-Robino, M.P. (2015). From Corpuscles to Elements: Chemical Ontologies from Van Helmont to Lavoisier. In: Scerri, E., McIntyre, L. (eds) Philosophy of Chemistry. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 306. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9364-3_10
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