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Old and New Problems in Philosophy of Measurement
Author(s) -
Tal Eran
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
philosophy compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.973
H-Index - 25
ISSN - 1747-9991
DOI - 10.1111/phc3.12089
Subject(s) - epistemology , coherentism , scholarship , semantics (computer science) , work (physics) , character (mathematics) , sociology , philosophy , computer science , foundationalism , mathematics , engineering , political science , law , mechanical engineering , geometry , programming language
The philosophy of measurement studies the conceptual, ontological, epistemic, and technological conditions that make measurement possible and reliable. A new wave of philosophical scholarship has emerged in the last decade that emphasizes the material and historical dimensions of measurement and the relationships between measurement and theoretical modeling. This essay surveys these developments and contrasts them with earlier work on the semantics of quantity terms and the representational character of measurement. The conclusions highlight four characteristics of the emerging research program in philosophy of measurement: it is epistemological, coherentist, practice oriented, and model based.