Ohnesorge, Miguel (2022) The Epistemic Privilege of Measurement: Motivating a Functionalist Account. In: UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

Philosophers and metrologists have refuted the view that measurement’s epistemic privilege in scientific practice is explained by its theory-neutrality. Rather, they now explicitly appeal to the role that theories play in measurement. I formulate a challenge for this view: scientists sometimes ascribe epistemic privilege to measurements even if they lack a shared theory about their target quantity, which I illustrate through a case study from early geodesy. Drawing on that case, I argue that the epistemic privilege of measurement precedes shared background theory and is better explained by its pre-theoretic function in enabling a distinctive kind of inquiry.

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Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Ohnesorge, Miguel mo459@cam.ac.uk 0000-0003-4583-4124
Keywords:	Measurement, Epistemology of Measurement, Geodesy, History of Physics, Philosophy of Physics, Philosophy of Geoscience
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics Specific Sciences > Earth Sciences General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > Models and Idealization General Issues > Theory/Observation
Depositing User:	Mr Miguel Ohnesorge
Date Deposited:	17 Jul 2022 06:32
Last Modified:	17 Jul 2022 06:32
Item ID:	20915
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics Specific Sciences > Earth Sciences General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > Models and Idealization General Issues > Theory/Observation
Date:	2022
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/20915

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