Last term the Measurement Lab supported Rebecca Jackson (Bridging Fellow) in attending the biennial meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association on Nov. 14th, 2024, in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Rebecca presented on “Integrating History and Philosophy of Measurement: Reflections on Its Past, Present and Future” with Michele Luchetti (Bielefeld University). Their paper provided an overview and introduction to integrated history and philosophy of measurement (HPM) as an approach to studying measurement. It also outlined some promising lines of inquiry for moving the field of history and philosophy of measurement forward, including calls to globalise case studies of measurement, bring more attention to measurement issues in human sciences, incorporate more tools from neighbouring disciplines, and reexamining the boundary problem of what constitutes measurement.
Rebecca and Michele’s paper is now under review to be a chapter in The Blackwell Companion to the Integrated History and Philosophy of Science edited by Yafeng Shan.
At this meeting, Rebecca was also able to connect with several philosophers of measurement, medicine, and life sciences who are now a part of the Measurement Heretics reading group the Lab is starting this year.
