Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-cphqk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-12T12:44:28.407Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Measurement Outside the Laboratory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Marcel Boumans
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The kinds of models discussed in this paper function as measuring instruments. We will concentrate on two necessary steps for measurement: (1) one should search for a mathematical representation of the phenomenon; (2) this representation about the phenomenon should cover an invariant relationship between properties of the phenomenon to be measured and observable associated attributes of a measuring instrument. Therefore, the measuring instrument should function as a nomological machine. However, invariant relationships are not necessarily ceteris paribus regularities, but could also occur when the influence of the environment is negligible. Then we are able to achieve accurate measurements outside the laboratory.

Type
Observation and Experiment
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 72 , Issue 5: Proceedings of the 2004 Biennial Meeting of The Philosophy of Science Association. Part I: Contributed Papers , December 2005 , pp. 850 - 863
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cartwright, Nancy (1999), The Dappled World: A Study of the Boundaries of Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, Hasok (2001), “Spirit, Air, and Quicksilver: The Search for the ‘Real’ Scale of Temperature”, Spirit, Air, and Quicksilver: The Search for the ‘Real’ Scale of Temperature 31:249–284.Google Scholar
Ellis, Brian (1968), Basic Concepts of Measurement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Finkelstein, Ludwik (1975), “Fundamental Concepts of Measurement: Definition and Scales”, Fundamental Concepts of Measurement: Definition and Scales 8:105–110.Google Scholar
Heidelberger, Michael (1993), “Fechner’s Impact for Measurement Theory”, Fechner’s Impact for Measurement Theory 16:146–148.Google Scholar
Heidelberger, Michael (1994a), “Alternative Interpretationen der Repräsentationstheorie der Messung”, in Meggle, Georg, and Wessels, Ulla (eds.), Analyomen 1: Proceedings of the 1st Conference “Perspectives in Analytical Philosophy”. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 310–323.Google Scholar
Heidelberger, Michael (1994b), “Three Strands in the History of the Representational Theory of Measurement.” Working paper. Berlin: Humboldt University.Google Scholar
Helmholtz, H. von (1887), “Zählen und Messen, erkenntnistheoretisch betrachtet”, in Philosophische Aufsätze Eduard Zeller gewidmet. Leipzig: Fuess.Google Scholar
International Vocabulary of Basic and General Terms in Metrology (1993). Geneva: International Organization for Standardization.Google Scholar
Mach, Ernst [1896] (1966), “Critique of the Concept of Temperature”, in Ellis, Brian, Basic Concepts of Measurement. Translated by M. J. Scott-Taggart and B. Ellis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 183–196.Google Scholar
Maxwell, James Clerk [1855] (1965), “On Faraday’s Lines of Force”, in Niven, W. D. (ed.), The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell, vol. I. New York: Dover, 155–229.Google Scholar
Michell, Joel (1993), “The Origins of the Representational Theory of Measurement: Helmholtz, Hölder, and Russell”, The Origins of the Representational Theory of Measurement: Helmholtz, Hölder, and Russell 24:185–206.Google Scholar
Savage, C. Wade, and Ehrlich, Philip (1992), “A Brief Introduction to Measurement Theory and to the Essays”, in Savage, C. W., and Ehrlich, P. (eds.), Philosophical and Foundational Issues in Measurement Theory. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1–14.Google Scholar
Stevens, S. S. (1959), “Measurement, Psychophysics, and Utility”, in Churchman, C. West and Ratoosh, Philburn (eds.), Measurement: Definitions and Theories. New York: Wiley, 18–63.Google Scholar
Woodward, James (1989), “Data and Phenomena”, Data and Phenomena 79:393–472.Google Scholar