What chemists take as molecular structure is a theoretical construct based on the concepts of chemical bond, atoms in molecules, etc. and hence it should be distinguished from tangible structures around us. The practical adequacy of it has been demonstrated by the established method of retro-synthetic analysis, for instance. But it is not derived a priori from quantum mechanical treatments of the molecule and criticized for being irrelevant to the reality of the molecule. There is persistent skepticism about it. The present study aims to overcome this skepticism by having recourse to the concepts of affordance and phenomenal field. The basic idea of our approach is suggested by the following statement of Niels Bohr: ‘evidence obtained under different experimental conditions cannot be comprehended within a single picture but must be regarded as complementary in the sense that only the totality of the phenomena exhausts the possible information about the objects’. This implies that we should take account of a context in which the cognition of a fact arises when we think about human activities including science. This can be realized by invoking affordances of a complex such as {agent, devices, methods, substances, surroundings}. That is to say, affordances are context-relative dispositional attributes of {agent-material world} complexes as is asserted by Harré and Llored. The phenomenal field is a conceptual device which schematizes the contextual aspect of affordance and, more importantly, serves as a link between the concept of affordance and Kant’s theory of knowledge, by which alone affordances are realized as the dispositional properties of {agent-material world} complexes. Because affordances become actualized in various phenomenal fields, affordances of one and the same object may well be distinct from one another. In conclusion we can take that molecular structure is the affordance of a complex that includes a chemist who is engaged in organic synthesis, whereas a quantum mechanical picture of the molecule may be one of the possible affordances of a complex that includes a quantum chemist who cares about electronic states of the molecule.

中文翻译：

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通过发展可供性概念克服对分子结构的怀疑

化学家所认为的分子结构是基于化学键、分子中的原子等概念的理论构建，因此应该与我们周围的有形结构区分开来。例如，已经建立的逆合成分析方法证明了它的实际充分性。但它不是从分子的量子力学处理中推导出来的，并被批评为与分子的现实无关。对此，人们一直持怀疑态度。本研究旨在通过求助于可供性和现象领域的概念来克服这种怀疑。我们方法的基本思想是由 Niels Bohr 的以下声明提出的：“在不同实验条件下获得的证据不能在一张图片中理解，而必须被视为补充，因为只有现象的整体才能穷尽有关物体的可能信息”。这意味着当我们考虑包括科学在内的人类活动时，我们应该考虑对事实的认知产生的背景。这可以通过调用复杂的可供性来实现，例如{代理、设备、方法、物质、环境}。也就是说，正如 Harré 和 Llored 所断言的那样，可供性是 {agent-material world} 复合体的上下文相关的倾向属性。现象场是一种概念装置，它对可供性的上下文方面进行了模式化，更重要的是，充当了可供性概念和康德知识理论之间的纽带，仅通过这种方式，可供性就被实现为{代理-物质世界}复合体的处置属性。因为启示在各种现象领域变得现实化，所以同一个对象的启示很可能彼此不同。总之，我们可以认为分子结构是包含从事有机合成的化学家的复合物的可供性，而分子的量子力学图片可能是包含关心的量子化学家的复合物的可能可供性之一关于分子的电子状态。一个和同一对象的可供性很可能彼此不同。总之，我们可以认为分子结构是包含从事有机合成的化学家的复合物的可供性，而分子的量子力学图片可能是包含关心的量子化学家的复合物的可能可供性之一关于分子的电子状态。一个和同一对象的可供性很可能彼此不同。总之，我们可以认为分子结构是包含从事有机合成的化学家的复合物的可供性，而分子的量子力学图片可能是包含关心的量子化学家的复合物的可能可供性之一关于分子的电子状态。