Abstract The literature review of the understanding of chemistry discipline reveals that scholars do not share a common idea on the objects of the understanding of chemistry discipline, and there is an inconsistency relating to this issue. Based on that, the paper carefully examines the main ideas in the literature and finds that all the objects mentioned in previous studies can be grouped into three categories: chemical knowledge, history of chemistry, philosophy of chemistry; nevertheless, there still lacks an awareness and a systematic perception of a philosophy of chemistry. Therefore, the paper presents an analysis of philosophy of chemistry itself, theoretical foundation and essence of chemistry teaching, and the “supply and demand” relationship between chemistry teaching and the philosophy of chemistry. Then it further discusses the feasibility, rationality, and necessity of organizing the objects in the understanding of chemistry discipline from the perspective of philosophy of chemistry. The paper finally argues that philosophy of chemistry can work as a systematic and reasonable approach to de-structure the various dimension in the understanding of chemistry discipline, and also be an effective way to promote the subjects' understanding of chemistry to a profound and systematic level.
WU Jun-Jie, JIANG Jian-Wen. Philosophy of Chemistry: An Approach to De-Structure the Dimensions in Understanding of Chemistry Discipline and to Promote the Level of Understanding[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Education, 2022, 43(5): 8-13.