This book uses history to introduce central issues in the philosophy of chemistry. Mobilizing the theme of impurity, it explores the tradition of chemistry s negative image. It then argues for the positive philosophical value of chemistry, reflecting its characteristic practical engagement with the material world. The book concludes with some ethical reflections concerning chemistry s orientations in the twenty-first century.

Contents: Introduction: Chemistry and its Discontents; Chemistry and Pollution; The Damnation of the Alchemist; The Space of the Laboratory; Proof in the Laboratory; Chemistry Creates Its Object; A Duel between Two Conceptions of Matter; Chemistry versus Physics; Atoms or Elements; Positivism and Chemistry; Atoms as Fictions; Agency and Relations; Taming the Nanoworld; Towards a Responsible Chemistry.