Philosophical and Foundational Issues in Measurement Theory

Philosophical and Foundational Issues in Measurement Theory PDF Author: C. Wade Savage
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 1134758669
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Get Book Here

Book Description
Measurement theory has only recently become recognized as a legitimate, specialized field of inquiry. This text covers a wide range of issues of central concern to contemporary measurement theorists, and a broad range of philosophical perspectives are represented. The formalist, representationalist approach defines measurement as the assignment of numbers to entities and events to represent their properties and relations. It also states that measurement theory is supposed to analyze the concept of a scale of measurement, describe various types of scales and their uses, and formulate the conditions required for the existence of scales of various types. Since this approach dominates contemporary measurement theory, the volume begins with essays by some of its leading architects. In order to allow for diverse points of view, the book also includes articles that attempt to broaden this approach, and several that even criticize the approach.

Philosophical and Foundational Issues in Measurement Theory

Philosophical and Foundational Issues in Measurement Theory PDF Author: C. Wade Savage
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 1134758669
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Get Book Here

Book Description
Measurement theory has only recently become recognized as a legitimate, specialized field of inquiry. This text covers a wide range of issues of central concern to contemporary measurement theorists, and a broad range of philosophical perspectives are represented. The formalist, representationalist approach defines measurement as the assignment of numbers to entities and events to represent their properties and relations. It also states that measurement theory is supposed to analyze the concept of a scale of measurement, describe various types of scales and their uses, and formulate the conditions required for the existence of scales of various types. Since this approach dominates contemporary measurement theory, the volume begins with essays by some of its leading architects. In order to allow for diverse points of view, the book also includes articles that attempt to broaden this approach, and several that even criticize the approach.

Philosophical and Foundational Issues in Measurement Theory

Philosophical and Foundational Issues in Measurement Theory PDF Author: C. Wade Savage
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 1134758731
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 206

Get Book Here

Book Description
Measurement theory has only recently become recognized as a legitimate, specialized field of inquiry. This text covers a wide range of issues of central concern to contemporary measurement theorists, and a broad range of philosophical perspectives are represented. The formalist, representationalist approach defines measurement as the assignment of numbers to entities and events to represent their properties and relations. It also states that measurement theory is supposed to analyze the concept of a scale of measurement, describe various types of scales and their uses, and formulate the conditions required for the existence of scales of various types. Since this approach dominates contemporary measurement theory, the volume begins with essays by some of its leading architects. In order to allow for diverse points of view, the book also includes articles that attempt to broaden this approach, and several that even criticize the approach.

How Economists Model the World into Numbers

How Economists Model the World into Numbers PDF Author: Marcel Boumans
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134280661
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 438

Get Book Here

Book Description
Economics is dominated by model building, therefore a comprehension of how such models work is vital to understanding the discipline. This book provides a critical analysis of the economist's favourite tool, and as such will be an enlightening read for some, and an intriguing one for others.

Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives in Metaphysics

Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives in Metaphysics PDF Author: Daniel D. Novotný
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134630093
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume re-examines some of the major themes at the intersection of traditional and contemporary metaphysics. The book uses as a point of departure Francisco Suárez’s Metaphysical Disputations published in 1597. Minimalist metaphysics in empiricist/pragmatist clothing have today become mainstream in analytic philosophy. Independently of this development, the progress of scholarship in ancient and medieval philosophy makes clear that traditional forms of metaphysics have affinities with some of the streams in contemporary analytic metaphysics. The book brings together leading contemporary metaphysicians to investigate the viability of a neo-Aristotelian metaphysics.

Representation and Structure in Economics

Representation and Structure in Economics PDF Author: Hsiang-Ke Chao
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134230206
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 176

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book provides a methodological perspective on understanding the essential roles of econometric models in the theory and practice. Offering a comprehensive and comparative exposition of the accounts of models in both econometrics and philosophy of science, this work shows how econometrics and philosophy of science are interconnected while exploring the methodological insight of econometric modelling that can be added to modern philosophical thought. The notion of structure is thoroughly discussed throughout the book. The studies of the consumption function of Trygve Haavelmo, Richard Stone, Milton Friedman, David Hendry and Robert Lucas are taken as the case studies to investigate their methodological implications of model and structure. In addition to the semantic view of the scientific theories, various philosophical accounts concerning scientific models are used to shed light on the methodological nature of these consumption studies in economics. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students of methodology of economics and econometrics as well as anyone interested in the philosophy of science in an economic context.

The Effortless Economy of Science?

The Effortless Economy of Science? PDF Author: Philip Mirowski
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822333227
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 478

Get Book Here

Book Description
A compilation of essays by the author that reveals the value for science studies of examples arising within the history of economics.

Fundamentals of Fuzzy Sets

Fundamentals of Fuzzy Sets PDF Author: Didier Dubois
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461544297
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 660

Get Book Here

Book Description
Fundamentals of Fuzzy Sets covers the basic elements of fuzzy set theory. Its four-part organization provides easy referencing of recent as well as older results in the field. The first part discusses the historical emergence of fuzzy sets, and delves into fuzzy set connectives, and the representation and measurement of membership functions. The second part covers fuzzy relations, including orderings, similarity, and relational equations. The third part, devoted to uncertainty modelling, introduces possibility theory, contrasting and relating it with probabilities, and reviews information measures of specificity and fuzziness. The last part concerns fuzzy sets on the real line - computation with fuzzy intervals, metric topology of fuzzy numbers, and the calculus of fuzzy-valued functions. Each chapter is written by one or more recognized specialists and offers a tutorial introduction to the topics, together with an extensive bibliography.

Patrick Suppes: Scientific Philosopher

Patrick Suppes: Scientific Philosopher PDF Author: P. Humphreys
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780792325536
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Get Book Here

Book Description
Patrick Suppes is a philosopher and scientist whose contributions range over probability and statistics, mathematical and experimental psychology, the foundations of physics, education theory, the philosophy of language, measurement theory, and the philosophy of science. He has also been a pioneer in the area of computer assisted instruction. In each of these areas, Suppes has provided seminal ideas that in some cases led to shaping the direction of research in the field. The papers contained in this collection were commissioned with the mandate of advancing research in their respective fields rather than retrospectively surveying the contributions that Suppes himself has made. The authors form an interesting mixture of researchers in both formal philosophy of science and science itself all of whom have been inspired by his ideas. To maintain the spirit of constructive dialogue that characterizes Suppes's intellectual style, he has written individual responses to each article. In Volume 1: Probability and Probabilistic Causality, nineteen distinguished philosophers and scientists focus their attention on probabilistic issues. In Part I the contributors explore axiomatic representations of probability theory including qualitative and interval valued probabilities as well as traditional point valued probabilities. Belief structures and the dynamics of belief are also treated in detail. In Part II the rapidly growing field of probabilistic causation is assessed from both formal and empirical viewpoints. For probability theorists, statisticians, economists, philosophers of science, psychologists and those interested in the foundations of mathematical social science. In Volume 2: Philosophy of Physics, Theory Structure, and Measurement Theory, fifteen distinguished philosophers and scientists cover a wide variety of topics. Part III covers issues in quantum theory, geometry, classical mechanics, and computational physics. Part IV explores Suppes's well known set-theoretic account of scientific theories which has served him well throughout his career. Suppes's contributions to measurement theory have been widely used in mathematical psychology and elsewhere, and this material is the subject of Part V. For physicists, logicians, workers in mathematical social sicence, and philosophers of science. In Volume 3: Philosophy of Language and Logic, Learning and Action Theory, fourteen distinguished philosophers and scientists explore issues in the philosophy of language, logic, and philosophical psychology. Suppes's suggestions that quantum theory requires a rethinking of classical logic form a particularly sharp account of that controversial thesis, and Part VI deals with this issue together with topics in the philosophy of language and logic, including relational grammars and anaphora. Part VII deals with issues in psychology, action theory, and robotics, while Part VIII concludes with a general survey of Suppes's views in the philosophy of science. A comprehensive chronological and topical bibliography of Suppes's writings is included in this volume. For philosophers of language, theoretical linguists, logicians, workers in mathematical social sciences, and philosophers of science.

Going Amiss in Experimental Research

Going Amiss in Experimental Research PDF Author: Giora Hon
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402088930
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Get Book Here

Book Description
Like any goal-oriented procedure, experiment is subject to many kinds of failures. These failures have a variety of features, depending on the particulars of their sources. For the experimenter these pitfalls should be avoided and their effects minimized. For the historian-philosopher of science and the science educator, on the other hand, they are instructive starting points for reflecting on science in general and scientific method and practice in particular. Often more is learned from failure than from confirmation and successful application. The identification of error, its source, its context, and its treatment shed light on both practices and epistemic claims. This book shows that it is fruitful to bring to light forgotten and lost failures, subject them to analysis and learn from their moral. The study of failures, errors, pitfalls and mistakes helps us understand the way knowledge is pursued and indeed generated. The book presents both historical accounts and philosophical analyses of failures in experimental practice. It covers topics such as "error as an object of study", "learning from error", "concepts and dead ends", "instrumental artifacts", and "surprise and puzzlement". This book will be of interest to historians, philosophers, and sociologists of science as well as to practicing scientists and science educators.

Realistic Rationalism

Realistic Rationalism PDF Author: Jerrold J. Katz
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262263290
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 268

Get Book Here

Book Description
Jerrold Katz develops a new philosophical position integrating realism and rationalism. In Realistic Rationalism, Jerrold J. Katz develops a new philosophical position integrating realism and rationalism. Realism here means that the objects of study in mathematics and other formal sciences are abstract; rationalism means that our knowledge of them is not empirical. Katz uses this position to meet the principal challenges to realism. In exposing the flaws in criticisms of the antirealists, he shows that realists can explain knowledge of abstract objects without supposing we have causal contact with them, that numbers are determinate objects, and that the standard counterexamples to the abstract/concrete distinction have no force. Generalizing the account of knowledge used to meet the challenges to realism, he develops a rationalist and non-naturalist account of philosophical knowledge and argues that it is preferable to contemporary naturalist and empiricist accounts. The book illuminates a wide range of philosophical issues, including the nature of necessity, the distinction between the formal and natural sciences, empiricist holism, the structure of ontology, and philosophical skepticism. Philosophers will use this fresh treatment of realism and rationalism as a starting point for new directions in their own research.