Stein, Ross L. "On Molecules and Their Chemical Transformation." Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought Vol. II. Edited by Michel Weber and Will Desmond. Heusenstamm, Germany: Ontos Verlag, 2008. 171-178.

Abstract

Alfred North Whitehead gave us a remarkable picture of reality in which change is the principle metaphysical category. The actualities of Whitehead's world are not static unchanging substances, but rather dynamic processes, evolving through time, constantly becoming and perishing by a creative advance that is influenced by the relational experiences of all the other actualities of their environment. With this emphasis on change and the temporal, Whitehead's philosophy of organism provides an especially suitable metaphysical backdrop for special sciences that concern themselves with dynamical aspects of nature. One such science is chemistry, the science of molecular change. In previous essays, I have tried to develop accounts of chemistry from the perspective of an "all-purpose" process philosophy that is informed by a broad spectrum of process thought (Stein 2004; Stein 2005; Stein 2006). In contrast, this project is self-consciously Whiteheadian. The bulk of this paper will be devoted to answering, in Whiteheadian terms, two questions of central importance in chemistry: What are molecules, and how do they undergo chemical change? In keeping with this, I will briefly discuss the work of other scholars who have thought about chemical problems from a process perspective. Finally, I will end with a personal assessment of the role that process thought can play in understanding, framing, and articulating chemical concepts.