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The Logic of Experimental Questions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2022

R. I. G. Hughes
R. I. G. Hughes*
Affiliation:
Yale University
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Extract

The experimental procedures of physics assign values to physical quantities; we measure the temperature of a gas, the luminosity of a light source, the momentum of a particle. Any pair, q = (A, Δ), with A an observable quantity, Δ a Borel subset of the reals, we will call an experimental question, though some prefer the term proposition. For example, in lowering my big toe into the bath, I address the experimental question (T,Δ) to the system consisting of my bathwater, where T is the temperature measured in °F, and Δ is (approximately) the interval (110,120). Theory tells us what answers we may expect, given certain initial conditions. A determinist theory like classical mechanics tells us that, under specified conditions, the measurement of a quantity will yield a particular result with certainty, whereas a statistical theory like quantum mechanics tells us what probability attaches to various possible outcomes of a measurement.

Type
Part VI. Philosophy of Physics
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1982 , Issue 1: Volume One: Contributed Papers 1982 , 1982 , pp. 243 - 256
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1982

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