Skip to main content
Log in

Understanding molecular structure requires constructive realism

  • Published:
Foundations of Chemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Since molecules are inaccessible to immediate observation, our conception of the molecule is brought about by transdiction which entails invention of various transcendental ideas. In organic chemistry we think that molecules consist of atoms, bonds, functional groups, etc. This is, however, not the unique description of the molecule as is shown by quantum mechanical calculations, for example. Then, what description represents the real molecule? Before asking this question, we have to consider what the real molecule is in the first place. Constructive realism distinguishes our cognitive world and the world just given, and claims that we should accept the former as reality. Understanding our cognitive world is possible only through construction of micro-worlds. Atoms (in molecules), bonds, functional groups, etc., are micro-worlds which make sense in a theoretical framework of organic chemistry. In this study we translate a micro-world to an affordance and paraphrase it as a context-relative dispositional attribute of an {agent-world} complex. Then, we can understand that it is what we take as molecular structure, not what might be out there to be found, that we should accept as reality. Excluding metaphysical fictions from scientific arguments, constructive realism makes science a meaningful activity. Constructive realism claims that, for getting knowledge of the world, we have to integrate information into our own linguistic frame, i.e., to translate it. Strangification is a technique of intentionally taking an accepted proposition out of one scientific system and putting it into a completely different context. As is the case with translation, strangification brings about deeper understanding of philosophical as well as scientific grounds on which the proposition system holds. We apply this method to molecular structure and reveal that it is an ingenious model to describe molecular behavior in multi-molecular systems with strong interactions between molecules. Information provided by strangification is essential to claim the legitimacy of a proposition system. As far as strangification is properly applied, relativism is irrelevant to constructive realism.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bader, R.F.W.: Atoms in Molecules. Clarendon Press, Oxford (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewar, M.J.S.: The molecular Orbital Theory of Organic Chemistry. McGraw-Hill, New York (1969)

    Google Scholar 

  • Harré, R., Llored, J.-P.: Procedures, products and pictures. Philosophy 93, 167–186 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1017/s0031819117000535

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingold, C.K.: Structure and Mechanism in Organic Chemistry. Cornell University Press, Ithaca (1953)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kant, I: The Critique of Pure Reason. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2018) The critique of Pure Reason is, as usual, cited by the pagination of the first (A) and/or second (B) editions. (Guyer, P. and Wood, A.W. trans., ed.)

  • Mandelbaum, M.: Philosophy, Science, and Sense Perception. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore (1966)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ochiai, H.: Does a molecule have structure?. Found. Chem. 19(3), 197–207 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ochiai, H.: Overcoming skepticism about molecular structure by developing the concept of affordance. Found. Chem. 22(1), 77–86 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10698-019-09349-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parr, P.G., Yang, W.: Density-Functional Theory of Atoms and Molecules. Clarendon Press, Oxford (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramberg, P.J.: Chemical Structure. Spatial Arrangement. Ashgate, Burlington (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  • Rocke, A.J.: The Quite Revolution; Hermann Kolbe and the Science of Organic Chemistry. University of California Press, Berkley and Los Angeles (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  • Rohlf, M.: The Ideas of Pure Reason, in The Cambridge Companion to Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. (Guyer, P. ed.). Cambridge University Press, New York (2010)

  • Russell, C.A.: The History of Valence. Humanities Press, New York (1971)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallner, F.: Constructive Realism; Philosophy, Science, and Medicine. Wallner, F. and Klünger, G. (eds.). Verlag Traugott Bautz GmbH, Nordhausen (2016)

  • Woolley, R.G.: Must a molecule have a shape? J. Am. Chem. Soc. 100, 1073–1078 (1978)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hirofumi Ochiai.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ochiai, H. Understanding molecular structure requires constructive realism. Found Chem 22, 457–465 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10698-020-09362-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10698-020-09362-8

Keywords

Navigation