The importance of being chemical affinity. part iv: the first flowers

Abstract

After the power void caused by the Roman Empire’s decline, Medieval Europe is involved in a combat climate for the power. The new Christian church from Rome expands and includes kings and emperors. The Christian pope seeks to compel all believers to subscribe the closed religious perspective of that time. However it is religious people who recognize the necessity to observe nature and the world in a different way. The discovery, translation and diffusion of the classic Greek philosophers’ texts allow the initiation of independent thinking, which in turn, spurs the Renaissance and Illustration ages. The inductive thinking method begins with the purpose of finding other ways to interpret nature and advance the thought process. Therefore during the XVI century alchemy is questioned and the first treatises on empirical metallurgy appear, considered to be the foundations of modern science. During the XVII century some individuals begin experimenting with residual alchemical concepts. The first hypotheses on key chemical concepts and phenomena appear which frame the logic and rational thought process during the XVIII century. The concept of affinity emerges as a way to describe the relations among substances, observed during the formation of compounds, and as an analogy to human relations. Published works regarding the components of the thinking process consolidate the basic concepts of chemical bonding and related themes.