Philosophy of Chemistry
Electronic Discussion Group
Sponsored by the International Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry [ISPC], PHILCHEM is an international electronic forum devoted to the discussion of philosophical issues that arise in chemistry. The list is open to anyone with an interest in any facet of the philosophy of chemistry.
The broad aims of the list are to explore issues in the philosophy of chemistry, promoting this important field of study. In particular we aim to encourage interdisciplinary dialog between philosophers and chemists and other parties with an interest in chemistry.
Topics include: the autonomy of chemistry and its (putative) reduction to physics; the nature of specifically chemical theorizing—in particular concerning the role of models and approximations in chemistry; the logic and epistemology of semi-empirical/semi-theoretical calculations done in chemistry; lessons to be drawn from the history of chemistry about the nature of scientific progress; a delineation of the principles that guide and have guided work in chemistry; questions concerning the reality of chemical laws and entities; chemistry in practice—in particular philosophically how to understand synthetic chemistry; the role of instrumentation in chemistry; any other topic germane to the philosophy of chemistry.
Members of the list are expected to strive for the spirit of cooperative inquiry. This does not mean suppressing disagreements. It does mean avoiding personal attacks, uncharitable interpretations of member’s arguments, grossly self-righteous arrogance and so forth and so on.
To subscribe to the Philchem email discussion list (it's free!), send a message from your usual email address to
listserv@vm.sc.edu
with a one-line command
subscribe philchem Your Name
as the body of the message (with your name in place of "Your Name"). You will be asked to confirm the subscription, and then you'll receive a couple of messages with more information about how the list works.
As a new member, you are encouraged (but by no means required) to introduce yourself, perhaps with a brief statement of what you might like to discuss with others on the list.
To unsubscribe from the list, send a message (from the same address you subscribed with) to listserv@vm.sc.edu with the one-line command
signoff philchem
as the body of the message.
To access the list archives, first send a message to listserv@vm.sc.edu with the one-line command
index philchem
as the body of the message. The server will respond with an email message listing all the archive files, in chronological order, with names like "LOG9802B" (in this case, the second archive file in February 1998). Each of these files contains roughly a week's worth of jdewey-l posts.
Then, to retrieve any one of these files, e.g., LOG9802B, send a message to listserv@vm.sc.edu with the one-line command
get philchem log9802b
as the body of the message.
A list of other LISTSERV User Commands is also available.
For information on the International Society for Philosophy of Chemistry, contact Professor Daniel Rothhat
For information on the journel Foudations of Chemistry see its home page.
Current technical information about the list is maintained by LSoft's CataList cataloging database.
The current list manager of PHILCHEM is Davis Baird, at db@sc.edu
Postal address: Department of Philosophy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208.
Send comments to
Philosophy @ USC.
Copyright © 1996 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of South Carolina. All Rights Reserved.