Résumé:

Since the 1990s there has been a significant attempt to promote a reflection especially devoted to chemistry. One may point to the founding of an international society and two journals in this area: the International Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry (1997), Hyle: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry (1995), Foundations of Chemistry (1999).This movement is a reaction against the neglect of chemistry in mainstream philosophy of science. Current interest in this science may be viewed as a late consequence of the critique of logical empiricism, which has led to pay greater attention to concrete, practical or technical aspects of science. Now chemistry has held an important place in French philosophy of science. When philosophy of science was just beginning to emerge in the 18th century, such prominent thinkers as Jean Jacques Rousseau and Denis Diderot wrote some substantial texts on chemistry. Later, in 1835, Auguste Comte devoted five lessons of his Cours de philosophie positive to what he called “Chemical philosophy” . In the aftermath several French thinkers paid heed to this science: Pierre Duhem, Émile Meyerson, Gaston Bachelard, Hélène Metzger, and more recently François Dagognet, Bernadette Bensaude Vincent, Isabelle Stengers. We shall focus on the former three, because they established contemporary philosophy of chemistry. Indeed, Duhem, Meyerson and Bachelard offered significant studies of the chemist’s approach. And, by examining their conceptions, we can bring out some characteristic features of the French tradition. We have chosen to take up our topic by drawing on our respective areas of competence as philosopher and chemist. Let us explain this choice.