Perception and Coincidence in Helmholtz’s Theory of Measurement
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15173/jhap.v6i3.3434Abstract
The present paper is concerned with Helmholtz’s theory of measurement. It will be argued that an adequate understanding of this theory depends on how Helmholtz’s application of the concepts of perception and coincidence is interpreted. In contrast both to conventionalist and (neo-)Kantian readings of Helmholtz’s theory, a more realistic interpretation will be suggested.References
References
Allison, Henry E., 1995. “On Naturalizing Kant’s Transcendental Psychology.” Dialectica 49: 335–51.
Biagioli, Francesca, 2016. Space, Number, and Geometry from Helmholtz to Cassirer. Cham: Springer.
Campbell, Norman R., 1928. An Account of the Principles of Measurement and Calculation. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
Cantor, Georg, 1887. Gesammelte Abhandlungen. Berlin: Springer.
Carrier, Martin, 1994. “Geometric Facts and Geometric Theory: Helmholtz and 20th-Century Philosophy of Geometry.” In Universalgenie Helmholtz. Rückblick nach 100 Jahren, edited by L. Krüger, pp. 276–91. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.
Cassirer, Ernst, 1929. “Neo-Kantianism.” In Encyclopedia Britannica, 14th ed., vol. XVI, pp. 215–16.
Coffa, J. Alberto, 1991. The Semantic Tradition from Kant to Carnap: To the Vienna Station, edited by L. Wessels. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Darrigol, Olivier, 2003. “Number and Measure: Hermann von Helmholtz at the Crossroads of Mathematics, Physics, and Psychology.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 34: 515–73.
Dedekind, Richard, 1888/1901. Essays on the Theory of Numbers. Chicago: Open Court.
De Kock, Liesbet, 2016. “Helmholtz’s Kant Revisited (Once More). The All-Pervasive Nature of Helmholtz’s Struggle with Kant’s Anschauung.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 56: 20–32.
DiSalle, Robert, 2006a. “Kant, Helmholtz, and the Meaning of Empiricism.” In The Kantian Legacy in Nineteenth-Century Science, edited by M. Friedman and A. Nordmann, pp. 123–39. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
———, 2006b. Understanding Space-Time: The Philosophical Development of Physics from Newton to Einstein. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Einstein, Albert, 1916/1923. “The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity.” In The Principle of Relativity: A Collection of Original Memoirs on the Special and General Theory of Relativity, translated by W. Perrett and G. B. Jeffrey, pp. 111–64. New York: Dover.
Friedman, Michael, 1997. “Helmholtz’s Zeichentheorie and Schlick’s Allgemeine Erkenntnislehre: Early Logical Empiricism and its Nineteenth-Century Background.” Philosophical Topics 25: 19–50.
Grassmann, Hermann, 1878. Ausdehungslehre, 2nd ed. Leipzig: Otto Wigand.
Helmholtz, Hermann von, 1868. “On the Origin and the Significance of the Axioms of Geometry.” In Helmholtz (1977), pp. 1–26.
———, 1870. “The Facts in Perception.” In Helmholtz (1977), pp. 115–63.
———, 1887. “Numbering and Measuring from an Epistemological Viewpoint.” In Helmholtz (1977), pp. 72–103.
———, 1903. Vorlesungen über theoretische Physik. Leipzig: Barth.
———, 1977. Epistemological Writings, translated by M. Lowe, edited by R. Cohen and Y. Elkana. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Howard, Don, 1999. “Point-Coincidences and Pointer-Coincidences: Einstein on Invariant Structure in Spacetime Theories.” In The History of General Relativity IV: The Expanding Worlds of General Relativity, edited by H. Goenner, J. Renn, J. Ritter and T. Sauer, pp. 463–500. Boston: Birkhäuser.
Kaila, Eino, 1936. “On the System of the Concepts of Reality. A Contribution to Logical Empiricism.” In Kaila (1979), pp. 59–125.
———, 1941. “On the Concept of Reality in Physical Science. Second Contribution to Logical Empiricism.” In Kaila (1979), pp. 126–258.
———, 1960. “The Perceptual and Conceptual Components of Everyday Experience.” In Kaila (1979), pp. 259–312.
———, 1979. Reality and Experience: Four Philosophical Essays, translated by A. Kirschenmann and P. Kirschenmann, edited by R. S. Cohen. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Kronecker, Leopold, 1887. “Über den Zahlbegriff.” In Philosophische Aufsätze, Eduard Zeller zu seinem fünfzigjährigen Doctorjubiläum gewidmet, pp. 263–74. Leipzig: Fues.
Lange, F. Albert, 1866. Geschichte des Materialismus und Kritik seiner Bedeutung in der Gegenwart. Iserlohn: J. Baedeker.
Mach, Ernst, 1896/1986. Principles of the Theory of Heat: Historically and Critically Elucidated, edited by B. McGuiness. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Michell, Joel, 1993. “The Origins of the Representational Theory of Measurement: Helmholtz, Hölder, and Russell.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 24: 185–206.
Neuber, Matthias, 2012a. “Helmholtz’s Theory of Space and Its Significance for Schlick.” British Journal for the History of Philosophy 20: 163–80.
———, 2012b. “Invariance, Structure, Measurement—Eino Kaila and the History of Logical Empiricism.” Theoria 78: 358–83.
———, 2017. “‘Denn was man messen kann, das existiert auch’—Grundzüge eines metrologischen Strukturenrealismus.” Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung 71.
Niiniluoto, Ilkka, 1992. “Eino Kaila and Scientific Realism.” In Eino Kaila and Logical Empiricism, edited by I. Niiniluoto, M. Sintonen and G. H. von Wright, pp. 102–16. Helsinki: Acta Philosophica Fennica.
Oberdan, Thomas, 2015. “From Helmholtz to Schlick: The Evolution of the Sign-Theory of Perception.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 52: 35–43.
Patton, Lydia, 2009. “Signs, Toy Models, and the A Priori.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 40: 281–89.
Pulte, Helmut, 2006. “The Space Between Helmholtz and Einstein: Moritz Schlick on Spatial Intuition and the Foundations of Geometry.” In Interactions: Mathematics, Physics and Philosophy, 1860–1930, edited by V. F. Hendricks, K. F. Jørgensen, J. Lützen and S. A. Pedersen, pp. 185–206. Berlin: Springer.
Reichenbach, Hans, 1928/1958. The Philosophy of Space and Time. New York: Dover.
Ryckman, Thomas, 2005. The Reign of Relativity: Philosophy in Physics 1915–1925. New York: Oxford University Press.
Schlick, Moritz, 1917/1979. Philosophical Papers, vol. 1, translated by P. Heat, edited by H. Mulder and B. van de Felde-Schlick. Dordrecht: Reidel.
———, 1918/1974. General Theory of Knowledge, translated by A. Blumberg. LaSalle, IL: Open Court.
———, 1921. “Notes and Comments.” In Helmholtz (1977), pp. 26–38.
Von Wright, Georg H., 1979. “Introduction.” In Kaila (1979), pp. ix–xlii.
Wigner, Eugene, 1967. Symmetries and Reflections. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Allison, Henry E., 1995. “On Naturalizing Kant’s Transcendental Psychology.” Dialectica 49: 335–51.
Biagioli, Francesca, 2016. Space, Number, and Geometry from Helmholtz to Cassirer. Cham: Springer.
Campbell, Norman R., 1928. An Account of the Principles of Measurement and Calculation. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
Cantor, Georg, 1887. Gesammelte Abhandlungen. Berlin: Springer.
Carrier, Martin, 1994. “Geometric Facts and Geometric Theory: Helmholtz and 20th-Century Philosophy of Geometry.” In Universalgenie Helmholtz. Rückblick nach 100 Jahren, edited by L. Krüger, pp. 276–91. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.
Cassirer, Ernst, 1929. “Neo-Kantianism.” In Encyclopedia Britannica, 14th ed., vol. XVI, pp. 215–16.
Coffa, J. Alberto, 1991. The Semantic Tradition from Kant to Carnap: To the Vienna Station, edited by L. Wessels. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Darrigol, Olivier, 2003. “Number and Measure: Hermann von Helmholtz at the Crossroads of Mathematics, Physics, and Psychology.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 34: 515–73.
Dedekind, Richard, 1888/1901. Essays on the Theory of Numbers. Chicago: Open Court.
De Kock, Liesbet, 2016. “Helmholtz’s Kant Revisited (Once More). The All-Pervasive Nature of Helmholtz’s Struggle with Kant’s Anschauung.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 56: 20–32.
DiSalle, Robert, 2006a. “Kant, Helmholtz, and the Meaning of Empiricism.” In The Kantian Legacy in Nineteenth-Century Science, edited by M. Friedman and A. Nordmann, pp. 123–39. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
———, 2006b. Understanding Space-Time: The Philosophical Development of Physics from Newton to Einstein. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Einstein, Albert, 1916/1923. “The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity.” In The Principle of Relativity: A Collection of Original Memoirs on the Special and General Theory of Relativity, translated by W. Perrett and G. B. Jeffrey, pp. 111–64. New York: Dover.
Friedman, Michael, 1997. “Helmholtz’s Zeichentheorie and Schlick’s Allgemeine Erkenntnislehre: Early Logical Empiricism and its Nineteenth-Century Background.” Philosophical Topics 25: 19–50.
Grassmann, Hermann, 1878. Ausdehungslehre, 2nd ed. Leipzig: Otto Wigand.
Helmholtz, Hermann von, 1868. “On the Origin and the Significance of the Axioms of Geometry.” In Helmholtz (1977), pp. 1–26.
———, 1870. “The Facts in Perception.” In Helmholtz (1977), pp. 115–63.
———, 1887. “Numbering and Measuring from an Epistemological Viewpoint.” In Helmholtz (1977), pp. 72–103.
———, 1903. Vorlesungen über theoretische Physik. Leipzig: Barth.
———, 1977. Epistemological Writings, translated by M. Lowe, edited by R. Cohen and Y. Elkana. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Howard, Don, 1999. “Point-Coincidences and Pointer-Coincidences: Einstein on Invariant Structure in Spacetime Theories.” In The History of General Relativity IV: The Expanding Worlds of General Relativity, edited by H. Goenner, J. Renn, J. Ritter and T. Sauer, pp. 463–500. Boston: Birkhäuser.
Kaila, Eino, 1936. “On the System of the Concepts of Reality. A Contribution to Logical Empiricism.” In Kaila (1979), pp. 59–125.
———, 1941. “On the Concept of Reality in Physical Science. Second Contribution to Logical Empiricism.” In Kaila (1979), pp. 126–258.
———, 1960. “The Perceptual and Conceptual Components of Everyday Experience.” In Kaila (1979), pp. 259–312.
———, 1979. Reality and Experience: Four Philosophical Essays, translated by A. Kirschenmann and P. Kirschenmann, edited by R. S. Cohen. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Kronecker, Leopold, 1887. “Über den Zahlbegriff.” In Philosophische Aufsätze, Eduard Zeller zu seinem fünfzigjährigen Doctorjubiläum gewidmet, pp. 263–74. Leipzig: Fues.
Lange, F. Albert, 1866. Geschichte des Materialismus und Kritik seiner Bedeutung in der Gegenwart. Iserlohn: J. Baedeker.
Mach, Ernst, 1896/1986. Principles of the Theory of Heat: Historically and Critically Elucidated, edited by B. McGuiness. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Michell, Joel, 1993. “The Origins of the Representational Theory of Measurement: Helmholtz, Hölder, and Russell.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 24: 185–206.
Neuber, Matthias, 2012a. “Helmholtz’s Theory of Space and Its Significance for Schlick.” British Journal for the History of Philosophy 20: 163–80.
———, 2012b. “Invariance, Structure, Measurement—Eino Kaila and the History of Logical Empiricism.” Theoria 78: 358–83.
———, 2017. “‘Denn was man messen kann, das existiert auch’—Grundzüge eines metrologischen Strukturenrealismus.” Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung 71.
Niiniluoto, Ilkka, 1992. “Eino Kaila and Scientific Realism.” In Eino Kaila and Logical Empiricism, edited by I. Niiniluoto, M. Sintonen and G. H. von Wright, pp. 102–16. Helsinki: Acta Philosophica Fennica.
Oberdan, Thomas, 2015. “From Helmholtz to Schlick: The Evolution of the Sign-Theory of Perception.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 52: 35–43.
Patton, Lydia, 2009. “Signs, Toy Models, and the A Priori.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 40: 281–89.
Pulte, Helmut, 2006. “The Space Between Helmholtz and Einstein: Moritz Schlick on Spatial Intuition and the Foundations of Geometry.” In Interactions: Mathematics, Physics and Philosophy, 1860–1930, edited by V. F. Hendricks, K. F. Jørgensen, J. Lützen and S. A. Pedersen, pp. 185–206. Berlin: Springer.
Reichenbach, Hans, 1928/1958. The Philosophy of Space and Time. New York: Dover.
Ryckman, Thomas, 2005. The Reign of Relativity: Philosophy in Physics 1915–1925. New York: Oxford University Press.
Schlick, Moritz, 1917/1979. Philosophical Papers, vol. 1, translated by P. Heat, edited by H. Mulder and B. van de Felde-Schlick. Dordrecht: Reidel.
———, 1918/1974. General Theory of Knowledge, translated by A. Blumberg. LaSalle, IL: Open Court.
———, 1921. “Notes and Comments.” In Helmholtz (1977), pp. 26–38.
Von Wright, Georg H., 1979. “Introduction.” In Kaila (1979), pp. ix–xlii.
Wigner, Eugene, 1967. Symmetries and Reflections. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
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