让“卡尼阿德斯”来辩护——波义耳对元素的怀疑及其如何把化学确立为科学

LET "CARNEADES" PLEAD——BOYLE'S DOUBT ABOUT THE ELEMENT AND HOW HE SET UP CHEMISTRY TO BE SCIENCE

本文认为既不应该给予“波义耳明确定义了元素”的殊荣 ,也不应该断定波义耳“从根本上否定了元素” .波义耳以其大量的实验论证和质疑了人们所定义的“元素” ;波义耳以哲学的方式诠释了“元素” ,他的“第一凝结物”是一个与“元素”意同形异的概念 ;正是波义耳以经验与理性相结合的科学传统把化学确立为科学 .

This paper pointed that we should neither do special honours to Boyle with his defining element clearly , nor conclude that he denied the element completely . With a great deal of experiments , Boyle demonstrated and raised a query that the element which had been defined by people at that times ; Boyle annotated the element by means of philosophy ,his 'the first coagulum' was a notion which was synonymous with element . It was Boyle's scientific tradition, that is, combining the experience and ration,that set up chemistry to be science.