Unlike other branches of science, the scientific products of synthetic chemistry are not only ideas but also new substances that change our material world, for the benefit or harm of living beings. This paper provides for the first time a systematical analysis of moral issues arising from chemical synthesis, based on concepts of responsibility and general morality. Topics include the questioning of moral neutrality of chemical synthesis as an end in itself, chemical weapons research, moral objections against improving material conditions (...) of life by chemical means, and freedom of research. The paper aims at providing both a sound basis for moral judgements of chemistry in a public discourse and a framework for chemists to reflect on the moral relevance of their activity. (shrink)

The view of alchemy as a gift of God is traced from her origin in the Hellenistic world through the Arabic world to Latin Europe. In the course of this history the attitude towards divine intervention changed; Hermes, the legendary (semidivine) founder of this science was not yet expected to intervene into the work of an alchemist. Already in the Hellenistic world alchemy became donum dei; the role of God graduated in the later cultures, and persisted surprisingly long in Latin (...) Europe. Here, God was the decisive force presenting only selected people with his gift, the knowledge of alchemy. Crafts based on chemistry and metallurgy developed simultaneously in the same social and religious environment, but they took quite a different position - free access for people to learn all knowledge. Therefore, alchemy and crafts are to be compared also from the point of view of donum dei. (shrink)