A fascinating article critical of Michell's propositions on measurement
Paul Barrett
Sorry if everyone already knows about this article ... but just in case ..
I came across this in my reading ... beautifully written and thought-provoking. The first serious attempt I’ve seen at a deeply considered critical exposition of Joel Michell’s arguments on the status of measurement and quantity in psychology.
There is a deep underlying issue in here about the status of measurement theory in an empirical science, which I think has resonance with Peter Schonemann’s arguments (Schonemann, P. (1994) Measurement: the Reasonable Ineffectiveness of Mathematics in the Social Sciences (Chapter 10, pp. 149-160). In I. Borg and P.Mohler (Eds.). Trends and Perspectives in Empirical Social Research. . ISBN: 3-11-014311-9).
Sherry, D. (2011) Thermoscopes, thermometers, and the foundations of measurement. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science: Part A, 42, 4, 509-524.
Abstract
Psychologists debate whether mental attributes can be quantified or whether they admit only qualitative comparisons of more and less. Their disagreement is not merely terminological, for it bears upon the permissibility of various statistical techniques. This article contributes to the discussion in two stages. First it explains how temperature, which was originally a qualitative concept, came to occupy its position as an unquestionably quantitative concept (§§1–4). Specifically, it lays out the circumstances in which thermometers, which register quantitative (or cardinal) differences, became distinguishable from thermoscopes, which register merely qualitative (or ordinal) differences. I argue that this distinction became possible thanks to the work of Joseph Black, ca. 1760. Second, the article contends that the model implicit in temperature’s quantitative status offers a better way for thinking about the quantitative status of mental attributes than models from measurement theory (§§5–6).
Regards .. Paul
Advanced Projects R&D Ltd.
__________________________________________________________________________________
wal.sc...@sympatico.ca
Regards,
Walter Schwager
From: pa...@pbarrett.net
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Subject: [talking-measurement] A fascinating article critical of Michell's propositions on measurement
Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2012 12:08:01 +1200
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