Crawford, Elisabeth Arrhenius From Ionic Theory to the Greenhouse Effect (Canton 1996); and Diana Barkan Walther Nernst and the Transition to Modern Physical Science (Cambridge 1999) (book review).docVIP

Book Reviews 177 er by answering the questions if Hegel’s ELISABETH CRAWFORD, Arrhenius: systematic philosophy provides an un- derstanding of chemical concepts and how chemistry understands chemical phenomena. According to Burbidge, He- From Ionic Theory to the Greenhouse Effect, Science History Publications, Canton, 1996 (Uppsala Studies in History of Science, Volume 23), -xiii, 320 pp. (ISBN: 0-88135-166-0) gel’ s approach in the Science of Logic and in the Philosophy of Nature should be distinguished. In the Science of Logic, philosophy analyses and develops con- cepts. If a concept proves to be incon- sistent, thought is compelled to move to a more comprehensive concept that re- solves the contradiction revealed in the former one. Thus, thought uses its own resources and refers to concrete material DIANA BARKAN, Walther Nernst and the Transition to Modern Physical Science, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999, -xii, 288 pp. (ISBN: 0-521-44456-x) only as an illustration or example. On Svante August Arrhenius and Walther the other hand, in the Philosophy of Na- Nernst were two of the founders of the ture, philosophy takes a thoroughgoing new physical chemistry. Arrhenius was empirical approach. One gathers every- thing experience tells us about nature, helm Ostwald and Jacobus Henricus looks at all determinations discovered and, by recognizing their relations and eration of physical chemists, although one of the original triumvirate with Wil- van’ t Hoff, Nernst one of a second gen- considering them as a whole, “constructs the concept” (Hegel). The categories an- alyzed in the Science of Logic are condi- only five years younger than Arrhenius. Importantly, Nernst was the first Ger- man chemist to become a disciple of the tions of the a