N.º 58 (2020): Enero - junio
Artículos

About the Ontology of Quantum Chemistry

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  • Juan Camilo Martínez González
Juan Camilo Martínez González
Universidad de Buenos aires Consejo nacional de investigaciones científicas y técnicas (CONICET)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21555/top.v0i58.1045

Publicado 2019-12-13

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Martínez González, J. C. (2019). About the Ontology of Quantum Chemistry. Tópicos, Revista De Filosofía, (58), 325–346. https://doi.org/10.21555/top.v0i58.1045
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Quantum chemistry is the branch of chemistry whose primary focus is the application of quantum mechanics to chemical systems at the molecular level. Precisely due to its peculiar position between chemistry and physics, in the last times it has begun to engage the interest of the philosophers of chemistry. Nevertheless, in this philosophical field, quantum chemistry has been studied mainly from a historical viewpoint or from a perspective interested on methodological issues. By contrast, the question that will guide this article is: what kind of ontic items are those studied by quantum chemistry? In order to develop the argumentation, first the relevance of the ontological questions will be addressed. Then, it will be considered in what measure the Born-Oppenheimer approximation and the quantum-chemistry concept of electron fit in the quantum theoretical context. Finally, some issues about what quantum chemistry refers to will be discussed.

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