The Methodological Pluralism of Chemistry and Its Philosophical Implications

Abstract

In this paper I first point out the pluralist constitution of science in general and of chemistry in particular and then argue that it is inevitable for epistemological reasons. Once methodological pluralism is accepted, many mainstream philosophical debates that are based on methodological monism become futile, of which I discuss “laws of nature”, “reductionism”, and “scientific realism”. That shifts philosophical debates to more useful issues, such as the methodology of models, improving interdisciplinarity, and forms of philosophical realism that are institutionalized in scientific practice. I conclude that pluralism is the better way of doing and understanding science.