This book shows that Diderot is an original philosopher of science, who was able to take charge of their irreducible diversity, both theoretical and practical, to compare their views and to define their philosophical contents. The complex theory of knowledge he develops is astonishing in its fruits.
table of contents
introduction
Diderot and Science 7
Diderot “The Man of Science” 9
Diderot, philosopher of science 17
Philosophy of Scientific Practices 18
Thinking about science 21
Regional epistemology 23
Towards a philosophy of science? 25
Rationalism and Empiricism 25
Knowledge and Materialism 29
Inevitability, Necessity and Emergency 33
Relativity of the cosmic system 35
Beyond the inevitable imagination 35
The essential order and the natural order 40
Gravity and Relativity for 42
Linear Time and the History of Material Dynamics 46
Necessity without inevitability47
The inevitable dust vortex? 50
Aesthetic Criticism of the System 52
Loaded dice 55
Return of order? 60
Empirical guess65
Certainty and suspicion 66
Interpretation of Nature and Practical Engineering 70
Genius and enthusiasm 74
Two Moments of Genuine Genius 76
Theosophical Enthusiasm and Madness 80
Publishing Genius in Empirical Conjectures 84
The Art of Guessing 84
Harmless Genius? 86
Monolithic and heterogeneous materials 91
Materialistic Monism vs. Dualism 92
Modern Spinozism 93
Animal Article 95
It is not permissible to reduce different matters 99
Elements and elementary particles 105
Infinity of elements 105
Elements, Atoms and Monads 108
Matter and Cosmic Matter 112
Chemistry and Biochemistry115
Chemistry and Life Sciences in the Time of Diderot 116
18th Century Privacy 116
New Knowledge Map 121
Chemistry and the Privacy of Life 123
2 practical skills 123
Chemical analysis of living organisms 128
Digestion and absorption132
Diderot “The Vital” 139
Diderot and Evolution 145
Atomic and transformation 149
Model 150 Hypothesis
Change and proportions 154
Fermentation Types 158
Nominalism and Evolution168
Definition of type? 168
Species and individuals171
Diderot's Reader to Buffon 173
Diderot and Contemporary Biology 178
Species in Darwinism 181
System and Opportunity 183
Causality without cause189
Diderot, the philosopher of chemistry 197
The Changing Identity of Chemistry 199
Reduction and Irreducibility 203
Attraction and Affiliations 204
Chemistry, Quantum Mechanics and Evolution 209
Qualitative ontology213
Sensitive and operational characteristics 214
Operational Realism 215
Chemistry and Philosophy of Matter 219
Conclusion 225
References 231
Name Index 249
