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.