Dear all,
Registration is now open for the conferene on âThe Making of
Measurementâ!
http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/25661
There is also a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1587762444808375/
View this email in your browser
The Making of Measurement
23-24 July 2015 at CRASSH (SG1&2)
The Making of Measurement is an interdisciplinary conference that seeks to
consolidate an emerging international community of scholars interested in the
history and/or philosophy of measurement. This new wave of scholarship is still
in an embryonic stage and no general conceptual frameworks or schools of
thought have yet emerged. Inevitably, tensions exist between
methodologically-diverse approaches across the fields of philosophy, history,
and sociology of science,
particularly with respect to whether
measurement outcomes reflect facts about nature, or about human tools
and concepts. Hence the goal of this conference to bring together scholars to
review recent advances and to identify key issues for further development. This
decade is also seeing dramatic changes in the metric system because four
scientific units are being redefined in terms of fundamental constants; the
contemporary relevance of a systematic approach in the humanities to the study
of measurement is therefore particularly strong. Contributors might choose to
address one or more of the questions listed under the following themes:
Philosophies of Measurement: Under what conditions is the world justifiably
deemed quantifiable? How do existing philosophies of measurement, for example
operationalism, fit specific historical cases? Can measurements of the
properties of macroscopic bodies and microscopic entities be analysed in the
same way? When measuring instruments disagree, is it always possible to
ascertain which one is in error? Do the relationships between measurement and
theory in the natural sciences hold true for the social and human sciences?How
does measurement function in areas of scientific enquiry, for example,
psychological and psychical, where the entities under study have a dubious
ontological grounding?
Units, Standards, and Metrology: Are measurement standards accurate by virtue
of fact or convention? What are the social, political, and scientific aims for
which, and means through which, units and standards are established? What
impact have specialized metrological institutions had on processes of
standardization?
Practices of Measurement: What kinds of conceptual approaches, methodological
and mathematical tools, and practical steps have measurers taken to ensure
sufficient reliability and precision for their measurements and instruments?
How have these varied from sites ranging from elite laboratories to the
workshop, factory, and home, and what kinds of exchange (of personnel,
instruments, apparatus, techniques,
and so on) takes place between these sites? What determines judgements of the
level of acceptable error, and how do these relate to the purpose of the
measurement, and economic and technological development?â
Keynote speakers:
Nancy Cartwright, Durham University
Graeme Gooday, University of Leeds
Terry Quinn, International Bureau of Weights and Measures
For more information and online registration, click here.
Facebook
Twitter
Website
Copyright © 2015 Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and
Humanities, All rights reserved.
Test list
Our mailing address is:
Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities
Alison Richard Building
7 West Road
Cambridge, Cam CB3 9DT
United Kingdom
Add us to your address book
unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences
...brought to you by HPS-discussion.
To subscribe or to be removed please send mail to [email protected].
_____________________________________________________
To unsubscribe from the CamPhilEvents mailing list,
or change your membership options, please visit
the list information page: http://bit.ly/CamPhilEvents
List archive: http://bit.ly/CamPhilEventsArchive
Please note that CamPhilEvents doesn't accept email
attachments. See the list information page for further
details and suggested alternatives.
