The concept of ‘nature’ in chemistry in a digital and ecological age

Abstract The chemical understanding of ‘nature’ is a naturalistic one where ‘nature’—understood as the chemical dynamics that guide material change—coincides with chemical reality and possibility. A naturalistic chemist considers all chemical substances equally ‘natural’, and more importantly also all possible substances. I characterize the first point as the ‘monistic’ and the second as the ‘potentialistic’ understanding of ‘nature’ in chemistry. I argue that this notion of ‘nature’ is ecologically vacuous and lies at the heart of the ecological havoc that modern chemistry is causing. Not only because of these ecological concerns but also because of the increasing digitization of chemistry is the chemical self-image as a ‘synthesis science’ at a crossroads. In the digital age, I claim, chemistry is increasingly becoming a ‘simulation science’. I evaluate these developments from an ecological perspective. In a recourse of ecological visions of chemistry, I outline possibilities of synergies between an ecological and a digital transformation of chemistry.