Measurement perspective, process, and the pandemic
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(2021) 11:13
PAPER IN PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE IN PRACTICE
Measurement perspective, process, and the pandemic Vadim Keyser 1
& Hannah
Howland 2
Received: 30 October 2019 / Accepted: 18 September 2020/ # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract This discussion centers on two desiderata: the role of measurement in informationgathering and physical interaction in scientific practice. By taking inspiration from van Fraassen’s (2008) view, we present a methodological account of perspectival measurement that addresses empirical practice where there is complex intervention, disagreeing results, and limited theory. The specific aim of our account is to provide a methodological prescription for developing measurement processes in the context of limited theory. The account should be useful to philosophers of science, who are interested in the intersection between representation and intervention; scientists, who are interested in methodological suggestions for theory-development and reliability; and interdisciplinary researchers, who are interested in the intersections between the pandemic, built environments, and social processes. We apply the process-view of measurement to COVID-19, specifically, measuring replication in the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The aim is to show that our account tracks key elements—manipulation/intervention, independence, invariance, and theory-development—by organizing unfolding measurement processes. Additionally, we use our account to make prescriptive suggestions for measurement practice in the COVID-19 context by discussing the need to broaden measurement perspective on interaction, manipulation, and production. Keywords Measurement theory . Process-view . Perspective . Perspectivism . Van
Fraassen . COVID-19 . SARS-CoV-2 . Prescriptive practice . Built environment . Public engagement
This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Perspectivism in science: metaphysical and epistemological reflections Guest Editor: Michela Massimi
* Vadim Keyser [email protected] Hannah Howland [email protected]
1
California State University, Fresno, California, USA
2
Pyatok, Oakland, California, USA
13
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European Journal for Philosophy of Science
(2021) 11:13
1 Introduction Scientific engagement by making measurements can be analyzed in terms of physical interaction with the world as well as information that is gathered from that interaction (van Fraassen 2008, 91). When asking questions like—what is the replication rate of SARS-CoV-2?—we are combining questions about the physical interactions, manipulations, and productions within the measurement process with questions about representation in information-gathering. That is, to address such questions we must focus on key interactions in the total measurement process, such as virus-to-host and built environment-to-social process interactions, in addition to how to selectively represent those interactions. A challenge for a robust philosophical account of measurement is to explicitly answer: What does the physical interaction of measurement con
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