Matter debate over nature

Since the demise of Logical Positivism the purely normative approach to philosophy of science has been increasingly challenged. Many philosophers of science now consider themselves as naturalists and it becomes a matter of which particular variety they are willing to support. As is well known, one of the central issues in the debate over naturalism concerns whether philosophy offers a privileged standpoint from which to study the nature of science, or whether science is best studied by studying science itself.1... 

In ancient Greece, philosophers debated the nature of matter. The philosopher Democritus held that matter was composed of elementary particles, called atoms, in otherwise empty space. Over two thousand years would pass before the existence of the atoms was proven. 

The potential of NSR catalysts in the removal of NO from mobile sources has motivated in the last few years extensive investigations from both the academic and the industrial world, and several studies have been published in the open literature dealing with fundamental and practical aspects of LNT catalysts [4-53], However, the mechanisms that operate the NO adsorption and the respective subsequent reduction have not been completely clarified so far. It has been shown that under oxidizing conditions, NO are stored on the surface of a Ba-containing catalyst in various forms (surface nitrites/nitrates), whose precise nature is, however, still a matter of debate [9-29], Even less clear are the mechanisms, which are responsible for the reduction of stored NO when the A/F ratio is set to rich and the stored NO species are reduced over Pt to N2, ammonia, N20 or back to NO [11],... 

Considerable controversy exists as far as the calcification sites inside or outside the cells are concerned. The nature of this arrangement has been a matter of debate for over two decades since the statement by Neuman and Neuman481 that .calcification occurs in individuals whose blood levels of calcium and phos-... 

The modern Periodic Table contains over one hundred (still a matter of debate) elements. To better describe the central nature of the elements, the atomic number (Z) of the element is used. The atomic number (Z) is determined from the number of protons within the nucleus of an element. Neutrons are not recorded. 

Philosophers, especially in Greece, endeavored to understand the fundamental nature of matter. Vigorous debates were held over the question of whether or not matter is infinitely divisible, or if some smallest particle exists that makes up all of matter. Some Greeks, principally Democritus (460 -370 BGE), did believe in such particles and called them atoms, from the Greek word atomos, which means indivisible . 

Overall, the field of biomimetic sol-gel materials has proven to be a rich source of fundamental and applied developments over a wide multidisciplinary landscape. It is also an area with a great future ahead of it, which, apart from its scientific and technical interest, will contribute to the current societal and philosophical debates related to the frontiers between the natural and the synthetic worlds and the place of living matter in man-made technology. 

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