Abstract
After the experiments of Perrin on Brownian motion and of Zeeman, Thomson and others that revealed the existence of the electron there remained little room for doubt about the existence of micro-particles way below the dimensions of direct observation. To what extent is this achievement a vindication of atomism? It was not a vindication of the philosophical tradition that had sought an account of the ultimate structure of matter. The atoms of modern science have an inner structure about which much is known and some inner structure of the electron might well be revealed by the next generation of particle accelerators. Knowledge of atoms and electrons was acquired early in the twentieth century by argumentation that was experimental rather than philosophical and was arrived at by a route that owed little to the tradition of philosophical atomism. As the twentieth century progressed properties, such as half-integral spin, needed to be ascribed to micro-particles in a way that gives rise to nothing but headaches for those inclined to base an account of the ultimate structure of matter on some general philosophical principles. To view contemporary atomic theory as a vindication of Democritus is to seriously misconstrue the nature of science and its mode of argumentation.
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Chalmers, A. (2009). Atomism Vindicated?. In: The Scientist’s Atom and the Philosopher’s Stone. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 279. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2362-9_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2362-9_14
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-2361-2
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