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A Critique of Operationalism in Physics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

R. B. Lindsay*
Affiliation:
Brown University Providence, R. I.

Extract

It is the aim of this paper to examine certain aspects of a point of view which has attracted much attention in physical methodology. This is the standpoint known as operationalism. We wish to discuss its significance in the construction and interpretation of physical theories.

The essential meaning of operationalism in physics is that physical concepts should be defined in terms of actual physical operations. On this view there is no meaning to a concept unless it represents an operation which can be performed in the laboratory. Thus the term “pressure of a gas” signifies nothing until an operation is described which constitutes the measurement of pressure. When one thinks of pressure one must think. of some actual apparatus, such as, for example, some glass and rubber tubing and some mercury and certain operations performed using these until finally one gets a pointer reading which one calls the pressure of the gas. The same stand is taken with respect to length, time, velocity, acceleration, temperature, etc.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1937

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References

1 The principal exponent of operationalism in physics is P. W. Bridgman, whose books are well known: “The Logic of Modern Physics” (Macmillan, N. Y., 1927) and “The Nature of Physical Theory” (Princeton University Press, 1936). In these will be found references to numerous articles where his views are further expounded. The present article deals principally with Bridgman's writings.

2 Reference may here be made to “Foundations of Physics” by R. B. Lindsay and H. Margenau (New York, Wiley, 1936).

3 Cf. his “Science and the Human Temperament” (Norton, N. Y., 1935).

4 Cf. his “Physical Significance of the Quantum Theory” (Oxford, 1933).