Strategic Constraints on Interacting Fields: Quantum Chemistry and Organic Chemistry

Abstract The interaction between scientific fields may be subject to strategic constraints —that is, fruitful interaction between fields may require adapting one field to the strategies informing the other. One way the concepts within an interfield field develop is by recrafting concepts originating in one practice in terms compatible with the strategies guiding the other. This conceptual accommodation may be a prerequisite to fruitful interactions between fields with different central problems. I explore these themes by considering the strategic constraints operative in the interfield field of quantum chemistry and the conceptual accommodation required for application to organic chemistry.