S. S. Stevens and the origins of operationism

Philosophy of Science 62 (3):404-424 (1995)
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Abstract

Despite influencing the social sciences since the 1930s, S. S. Stevens' "operationist" philosophy of science has yet to be adequately understood. I reconstruct Stevens' operationism from his early work and assess the influence of various views (logical positivism, behaviorism and the "operational viewpoint" of P. W. Bridgman, among others) on Stevens. Stevens' operationism emerges, on my reconstruction, as a naturalistic methodological directive aimed at agreement, founded in turn on the belief that agreement is constitutive of science, the scientific community, and objectivity. Further, I show that operationism is historically and philosophically independent of the views mentioned above

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10.1086/289875

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Citations of this work

Measuring the non-existent: validity before measurement.Kino Zhao - 2023 - Philosophy of Science 90 (2):227–244.
Operationalism.Hasok Chang - 2009 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Hubris to humility: Tonal volume and the fundamentality of psychophysical quantities.Alistair M. C. Isaac - 2017 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 65:99-111.

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References found in this work

The naturalists return.Philip Kitcher - 1992 - Philosophical Review 101 (1):53-114.
The operational analysis of psychological terms.B. F. Skinner - 1945 - Psychological Review 52 (5):270-277.
The Logical Syntax of Language.Rudolf Carnap & Amethe Smeaton - 1938 - Philosophy 13 (52):485-486.
The Logic of Modern Physics.P. W. Bridgman - 1927 - Mind 37 (147):355-361.
Psychology versus immediate experience.Edward Chace Tolman - 1935 - Philosophy of Science 2 (3):356-80.

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