Ontological reduction and molecular structure

In this paper I outline how the debate concerning the intertheoretic reduction of chemistry reaches a stalemate. One way forward is to switch discussion to the issue of ontological reduction and emergence, so I present a counternomic criterion of emergence that should be acceptable to both sides of the discussion. I then examine the bearing on this debate of the symmetry problem in molecular quantum mechanics, as presented by Woolley and Sutcliffe (1977). I conclude by addressing some objections to emergentist positions: that they posit miraculous violations of physical laws; that emergence is obscure and of doubtful coherence; that causal theories of property identity render emergence, under the counternomic criterion, metaphysically impossible.