Discovery explanation

So what good, then, what special value, does chemistry offer contemporary philosophy of science Typically philosophical problems, even problems in philosophy of science, are not confined to a particular science. For general problems—problems about representation, inference, discovery, explanation, realism, intertheoretic and interdisciplinary relations, and so on—what is needed are scientific illustrations that go to the heart of the matter without requiring specialized technical knowledge of the reader. The science needed for most philosophy is familiar, not esoteric, right in the middle of things, mature and diverse enough to illustrate a variety of fundamental issues. Almost uniquely, chemistry fits the description. 

A major advance in the art of effecting Birch reductions was the discovery by Wilds and Nelson that lithium reduced aromatic steroids much more efficiently than had hitherto been possible with sodium or potassium. The superiority originally was attributed to the somewhat higher reduction potential of lithium as compared to the other alkali metals. Later work showed that the following explanation is more probable. ... 

To understand how the electron has been applied to explanations of the periodic table we must start with the discovery of the periodic system itself. The Russian chemist Dimitri Mendeleev announced in 1869 that the properties of elements arranged in order of increasing atomic weight appeared to repeat after certain definite intervals. Yet even as this discovery became increasingly well established, Mendeleev remained strongly opposed to any attempt to reduce or explain the periodicity in terms of atomic structure. He resisted the notion of any form of primary matter, which was actively discussed by his contemporaries, and opposed... 

Figure 2. Dimitri Mendeleev s discovery of the periodic system in 1869 was quickly followed by controversy over how it should be used, Mendeleev resisted reduction or explanation of the system in terms of atomic structure, and was specifically opposed to attempts to draw curves through points representing numerical data Lothar Meyer, who contributed to the discovery of the periodic system, was not so averse to reduction, however. One of his graphs, shown here in an 1870 publication, plotted atomic volume and was instrumental in the acceptance of the periodic system.

For example, whichever form of the table is used, an interesting feature emerges The sequence 2,10,18, 36,54, 86 of atomic numbers, in which each period is dosed in the sense of reaching a noble-gas structure, does not appear to have a strictly quantum-mechanical explanation. Although Pauli s brilliant discovery... 

Once they have detected patterns, scientists develop hypotheses, possible explanations of the laws—or the observations—in terms of more fundamental concepts. Observation requires careful attention to detail, but the development of a hypothesis requires insight, imagination, and creativity. In 1807, John Dalton interpreted experimental results to propose the hypothesis that matter consists of atoms. Although Dalton could not see individual atoms, he was able to imagine them and formulate his atomic hypothesis. Dalton s hypothesis was a monumental insight that helped others understand the world in a new way. The process of scientific discovery never stops. With luck and application, you may acquire that kind of insight as you read through this text, and one day you may make your own extraordinary hypotheses. 

Schaffner, K. (1993), Discovery and Explanation in Biology and Medicine, Chicago University Press, Chicago, IL. 

We wish also to mention the discovery of an unusual magnetic field dependence of specific heat in some multicomponent glasses in the 0.3 tK range [46]. A theoretical explanation of the phenomenon can be found in ref. [[47] pp. 17-46]. 

The descendants of slaves, along with many other minorities in the United States, have had an historical, and to some extent continuing, experience of oppression and discrimination. The scientific and medical professions participated in that experience. The "scientific racism" of the nineteenth century predated the (re)discovery of genetics in 1900 one could date it at least to Linnaeus eighteenth-century classification of humans into four subspecies with its assignment of superiority to his own European subspecies. When the science of genetics arrived with the twentieth century, genetic explanations were quickly advanced for the perceived inferiority of minorities. 

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