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After Substance: How Aristotle's Question Still Bears on the Philosophy of Chemistry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Paul A. Bogaard
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Abstract

This article will explore whether there are arguments for Aristotle's concept mixis which can aid our current discussions within the philosophy of chemistry. We remain troubled by the way and extent to which chemical substance in bulk can be identified with or reduced to the stability and structure of molecules, and whether these in turn can be identified with or reduced to elemental atoms and the quantum theoretical characterization of their electrons. Aristotle was as determined as we are to think through the implications of substances comprised of constituents and to question their status in chemical compounds.

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