QUIM-3406 The Chemical Ideas in the History of Ideas
The course intends for students to identify the two-way connection that has taken place throughout history, between some of the important ideas of mankind and the thinking process regarding the organization of the material world and the transformations of matter, which were the origins of the chemical science. Some fundamental ideas of chemistry such as atomism were closely related to the construction of the individualistic image of society at the beginning of modernity. This was also true at many other moments. The efforts to build precise grammar in the times of the French Revolution that were bound to the origins of modern linguistics, had a very clear reflection in the building of a precise grammar to designate the chemical compounds, and the algebra of the chemical reactions. As a result, modern chemistry was born with Lavoisier, very similar to the linguistic algebras. The idea of purification, which originated in chemistry, permeates many metaphysical concepts, like, more recently, the ideas of structure, shape and function, which also originated in chemistry, support our understanding of the genetic code.
Instructor
Quijano Celis Clara
Catalog page for this course