Pragmatism and Measurement: New Directions

March 15, 2025 @ 8:00 am - March 16, 2025 @ 5:00 pm EDT

Organizing Committee

• Sandra D. Mitchell, University of Pittsburgh, HPS
• Holly K. Andersen, Simon Fraser University, Philosophy
• Dana Matthiessen, University of Minnesota, Center for the Philosophy of Science
• Dzintra Ullis, University of Pittsburgh, HPS

Location: Center for Philosophy of Science, Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh

Measurement is a central activity in the acquisition of scientific knowledge. With increasing attention to scientific practice, there is renewed interest determining what contributes to the reliability of measurement, its accuracy, and precision. The epistemology and metaphysics of measurement raise fundamental questions about the relationship between scientific theories and models, human actions, and the natural world. These include:

1. The representational and informational character of measurements (What do they measure?)

2. The evaluation of measurement outcomes (How should we assess the validity or reliability of a measurement process?)

3. The objectivity of measurements (How is the measurement process guided by theory? How is it independent? What are the implications for the status of measurement as evidence?)

This workshop will explore how a philosophically pragmatist epistemology and metaphysics addresses these questions, and how pragmatist frameworks might transform our understanding of the character and constituents of successful scientific measurement.

Confirmed Keynote Speakers:

• Nancy Cartwright, UCSD and Durham
• Hasok Chang, University of Cambridge
• Eran Tal, McGill University

Day 1: Saturday, March 15

9AM - 9:40           Continental Breakfast

9:40 - 10:10         Introduction              Sandra Mitchell, Dana Matthiessen, Holly Andersen

10:10 - 11:10       Keynote: Eran Tal

11:10 - 11:30       Coffee break

11:30 - 12PM       Jennifer Jhun                                         The pragmatics of the productivity index

12 - 12:30            Gerald Teng                                           Unit standards: towards a realist conventionalism about measurement

12:30 - 1PM         Federica Bocchi, Carlos Santana        When Adequacy is Inadequate

1PM - 2:15            Lunch  On your own

2:15 - 2:45

Elihu Gerson

Measurement as Workflow: A Deweyan Approach

2:45 - 3:15

Josselin Evan

Measurement in Citizen Science: A pragmatist approach

3:15 - 3:45

Shimin Zhao

Measurement of abortion access: what is it? What do we want it to be?

3:45 - 4:05

Coffee break

4:05 - 5:05

Keynote: Hasok Chang

[title]

6:30

Workshop Dinner

Together

Day 2: Sunday, March 16

9AM - 9:45

Continental Breakfast

9:45 - 10:45

Keynote: Nancy Cartwright

[title]

10:45 - 11:10

Coffee break

11:10 - 11:40

Kent Staley and Hugo Beauchemin

Making measurement useful: Integrating measurement, uncertainty, and sensitivity

11:40 - 12:10PM

Yasmin Haddad

Measuring Ancestry

12:10 - 1:30

Lunch

On own

1:30 - 2PM

Julia Pelletier and William Penn

Measuring, Not Measurement

2PM - 2:30

Rebecca Jackson, Morgan Thompson, and Aja Watkins

Heretical Iterations: Pragmatism’s Challenge for Measurement Dogmas

2:30 - 3:30

Open discussion

Optional Day 3: Monday, March 17

• Informal hangout with faculty and graduate students