The technoscientific aspect of contemporary chemical knowledge

Abstract

If we take into account the way in which the chemist operates, we will see that he does not regard nature from the same point of view as the physicist, that is, outside the world. On the contrary: the chemist operates from the perspective of know-how, creating his own scientific objects and controlling their processes, converting them, in the end, into devices. Thus, an aspect of the chemical enterprise that deserves the attention of researchers, especially those dedicated to scientific education, concerns the production of artifacts, both material and conceptual. Thus, taking into account the different faces of the philosophy of chemistry, we will seek in this work to characterize the technoscientific aspect of contemporary chemical knowledge, seeking to deconstruct an image conveyed to this science, as a purely cognitive, autonomous and disinterested enterprise. Thus, this work aims to characterize the technoscientific aspect of contemporary chemical knowledge, seeking to present this science as a specific form of knowledge production, delegating to it a specific territory, with its own problems, methods and ontologies. We aim to carry out this reflection through a qualitative research, of the bibliographic type. At the end, we point out some implications of such a characterization for Chemistry Education, indicating possible paths for teaching that takes such aspects into account.