Philosophical Chemistry furthers Manuel DeLanda's revolutionary intervention in the philosophy of science and science studies. Against a monadic and totalizing understanding of science, DeLanda's historicizing investigation traces the centrality of divergence, specialization and hybridization through the fields and subfields of chemistry.

This book creates a model of a scientific field capable of accommodating the variation and differentiation evident in the history of scientific practice. The three chapters deal with one subfield of chemistry in the century in which it was developed: eighteenth-century inorganic chemistry, nineteenth-century organic chemistry, and nineteenth-century physical chemistry. DeLanda proposes a model that is made of three components: a domain of phenomena, a community of practitioners, and a set of instruments and techniques connecting the community to the domain.

Philosophical Chemistry will be essential reading for those engaged in emergent, radical and contemporary strands of thought in the philosophy of science and for those scholars and students who strive to practice a productive dialogue between the two disciplines.

This book by a distinguished philosopher is an attempt to give a philosophical underpinning to chemistry. In four short but dense chapters, each drawing on a textbook of a given period, DeLanda (European Graduate School, Switzerland) discusses his theories of the philosophy of chemistry with respect to 18th-century inorganic chemistry, 19th-century organic chemistry, 19th-century physical chemistry, and what he terms 'social chemistry.' The overall intent is to present an intellectual history of chemistry during the periods described. The author's command of the field is impressive, though there are occasional lapses in chemical understanding. The text covers only 158 pages, and there are over 60 pages of references, many with extensive comments. There are separate author and subject indexes, but no illustrations. A book for serious philosophers and historians of science, not general readers. Summing Up: Recommended. Researchers/faculty and professionals/practitioners.