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.

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.