Talk by Padovani at MCMP (Thu. Nov. 19)

[Dardashti, Radin]

Speaker: Flavia Padovani (Drexel University)
Date: Thu., Nov 19
Location: Ludwigstraße 31, ground floor, Room E21
Time: 18:15 -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 19:45

Title: Measurements, Coordination, and the Problem of Representation of 
Physical Quantities

Abstract:
In his Scientific Representation, van Fraassen argues that measuring is 
a form of representation. In fact, every measurement pinpoints its 
target in accordance with specific operational rules within an 
already-constructed theoretical space, in which conceptual 
interconnections can be represented. Reichenbach’s 1920 account of 
coordination is particularly interesting in this connection. In his 
early work, however, the idea of coordination was employed not only to 
indicate theory-specific fundamental principles such as the ones 
suggested by Friedman’s relativized a priori, but also to refer to more 
basic principles. These are preconditions both of the individuation of 
physical magnitudes and of their measurement, thus necessary to approach 
the world through measurement in the first instance. This paper aims to 
reassess Reichenbach’s approach to coordination and to the 
representation of physical quantities in light of recent literature on 
measurement and scientific representation.