Acknowledgements and Petition

Abstract

Even an experimenter will not start a systematic investigation e.g. of a reaction without the “benefit of prejudice” [251]. Our experiences with catalytic systems were directed by experiments. This and our efforts. not to forget essential, fundamental aspects of theoretical chemistry and to apply them, guided us to the pragmatic, qualitative CONCEPT OF ALTERNATIVE PRINCIPLES. The ambitions aim of this book was, if possible, to avoid errors in logical typing. It was hardly to adhere to, because “experimenter often combine empirical regularities and deeper theoretical insights in an artistic manner. Any such representation of models relies heavily on not-formalized and unconsidered, pre-understanding, therefore it “— the phenomenological conception of models —” should be used only in combination with ‘common sense’ ” [227].

Jeder Naturwissenschaftler, der diesen Namen verdient, unterstellt sich aber der Kontrolle durch das Experiment oder durch den Formalismus einer logisch konsistenten und empirisch bewährten Theorie

H. Primas u. U. Müller-Herold [227]