Chemistry in the Statute of the Faculty of Philosophy of Coimbra (1772): origins of a School Subject

Abstract

It aims to characterize the origin and development of the discipline of Chemistry in the environment of clashes between the humanist tradition and scientific rationality in Portugal in the 18th century. The methodology used is the Content Analysis of the Statute of the Faculty of Philosophy of Coimbra, considering a dialogue with Chervel (1990) on the history of the school subjects. The results point to aspects related to Chemistry in fourteen guidelines. Content Analysis allowed to construct three categories related to the genesis, organization and development of the discipline: objectives, contents and methodology, based on a categorization that admits the movement between Chemistry as a reference science and as a school discipline, highlighting key words like examine, separating, body, substance, composition, affinity, property, combination, mixtures, comparison, lens / teacher, theory and experiment / practice / laboratory. Real aims - related to school practices - and objective aims - prescribed in the official text, were analyzed, outlining Chemistry as a discipline linked to historical transformations.