Measurement in Science (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Measurement is an integral part of modern science as well as of engineering, commerce, and daily life. Measurement is often considered a hallmark of the scientific enterprise and a privileged source of knowledge relative to qualitative modes of inquiry.[1] Despite its ubiquity and importance, there is little consensus among philosophers as to how to define measurement, what sorts of things are measurable, or which conditions make measurement possible. Most (but not all) contemporary authors agree that measurement is an activity that involves interaction with a concrete system with the aim of representing aspects of that system in abstract terms (e.g., in terms of classes, numbers, vectors etc.) But this characterization also fits various kinds of perceptual and linguistic activities that are not usually considered measurements, and is therefore too broad to count as a definition of measurement. Moreover, if “concrete” implies “real”, this characterization is also too narrow, as measure

--> Measurement in Science (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Menu Browse Table of Contents What's New Random Entry Chronological Archives About Editorial Information About the SEP Editorial Board How to Cite the SEP Special Characters Advanced Tools Contact Support SEP Support the SEP PDFs for SEP Friends Make a Donation SEPIA for Libraries Entry Navigation Entry Contents Bibliography Academic Tools Friends PDF Preview Author and Citation Info Back to Top Measurement in Science First published Mon Jun 15, 2015; substantive revision Fri Aug 7, 2020 Measur

related reading

• How to Measure Anything — LessWronglesswrong.com
• Philosophy of Mathematics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)plato.stanford.edu
• The Problems of Philosophy | Project Gutenberggutenberg.org
• Dimensional analysis - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
• Goodhart's Law and Why Measurement is Hard — Ribbonfarmribbonfarm.com
• The Beginning of Infinity, Part 1nav.al
• How mathematics built the modern world - Works in Progress Magazineworksinprogress.co
• Interpretations of Probability (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)plato.stanford.edu
• Likert scale - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
• Phenomenology and Natural Science | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophyiep.utm.edu
• Kill Mathworrydream.com
• wigner.pdfwebhomes.maths.ed.ac.uk