This e-book shows deep philosophical quandaries and intricacies of the old improvement of technological know-how mendacity at the back of an easy and basic merchandise of good judgment in sleek technology, particularly the composition of water as H₂O. 3 major levels of improvement are severely re-examined, overlaying the historic interval from the 1760s to the 1860s: the Chemical Revolution (through which water first turned well-known as a compound, no longer an element), early electrochemistry (by which water’s compound nature used to be confirmed), and early atomic chemistry (in which water began as HO and have become H₂O). In every one case, the writer concludes that the empirical proof on hand on the time was once now not decisive in settling the vital debates and consequently the consensus that used to be reached used to be unjustified or a minimum of untimely. This results in an important second look of the realism query within the philosophy of technological know-how and a special new advocacy for pluralism in technology. each one bankruptcy includes 3 layers, permitting readers to stick to quite a few components of the ebook at their selected point of intensity and element. the second one significant research in "complementary science", this ebook bargains an extraordinary mixture of philosophy, heritage and technological know-how in a bid to enhance medical wisdom via background and philosophy of science.