The Logic of Modern Physics

Short description: 1927 book by Percy Williams Bridgman

The Logic of Modern Physics

Title page for The Logic of Modern Physics (1927)

Author| Percy Williams Bridgman
Language| English

Publication date

| 1927

The Logic of Modern Physics is a 1927 philosophy of science book by American physicist and Nobel laureate Percy Williams Bridgman. The book is notable for explicitly identifying, analyzing, and explaining operationalism for the first time, and coining the term operational definition. Widely read by scholars in the social sciences, it had a huge influence in the 1930s and 1940s, and its major influence on the field of psychology in particular surpassed even that on methodology in physics, for which it was originally intended.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Influence
* 3 See also
* 4 Notes and references
* 5 External links

## History

The Logic of Modern Physics is a 1927 philosophy of science book by American physicist and Nobel laureate Percy Williams Bridgman notable for explicitly identifying, analyzing, and explaining operationalism for the first time.[1]

Pragmatic philosophers like Charles Sanders Peirce in the 1870s had already advanced solutions to the related ontological problems.[2]

Also, Sir Arthur Eddington had discussed notions similar to operationalization in 1920 before Bridgman.[3] Bridgman's formulation, however, became the most influential.[4]

In 1955 the variant operationism was described by A. Cornelius Benjamin.[5]

## Influence

Operationalism can be considered a variation on the positivist theme, and, arguably, a very powerful and influential one.[6]

The book was widely read by scholars in the social sciences, in which it had a huge influence in the 1930s and 1940s,[6] In the social sciences, the main influence has been in psychology, (behaviorism), where it has been even greater than that on the methodology in physics, for which it was originally intended.[4] Examples of the influence on psychology in the 1930s and 1940s include Stanley Smith Stevens (The Operational Basis of Psychology and The Operational Definition of Psychological Concepts), and Clark L. Hull (The Principles of Behavior: An Introduction to Behavior Theory).[7] Since then, it has been the central influence of the official epistemology governing psychological method for the whole century."[8]

## See also

* Edward C. Tolman
* Heisenberg uncertainty principle
* Henry Schultz
* Herbert A. Simon
* Talcott Parsons

## Notes and references

1. ↑ Sarkar, Sahotra and Pfeifer, Jessica (2005) The Philosophy of Science: An Encyclopedia, Volume 1 p. 76
2. ↑ Peirce, C.S. (1955) [1878] "How to make our ideas clear", in J. Buchler (editor) Philosophical Writings of Peirce, pages 23–41, New York: Dover
3. ↑ Eddington, A. (1920). s:Space Time and Gravitation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Green, Christopher D. (1992) Of Immortal Mythological Beasts: Operationism in Psychology in Theory & Psychology, 2, pp. 291–320
5. ↑ A. Cornelius Benjamin (1955) Operationism via HathiTrust
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Crowther-Heyck, Hunter (2005) Herbert A. Simon: The Bounds of Reason in Modern America p. 65
7. ↑ Crowther-Heyck (2005) p. 352 note 18
8. ↑ Koch, Sigmund (1992) Psychology's Bridgman vs. Bridgman's Bridgman: An Essay in Reconstruction., in Theory and Psychology vol. 2 no. 3 (1992) p. 275

## External links

* Full text of The Logic of Modern Physics at the Internet Archive

* v
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Positivism

| Perspectives|

* Antihumanism
* Empiricism
* Rationalism
* Scientism

|

Declinations|

* Legal positivism
* Logical positivism / analytic philosophy
* Positivist school
* Postpositivism
* Sociological positivism
* Machian positivism (empirio-criticism)
* Rankean historical positivism
* Polish positivism
* Russian Machism

Principal concepts|

* Consilience
* Demarcation
* Evidence
* Induction
* Justificationism
* Pseudoscience
* Critique of metaphysics
* Unity of science
* Verificationism

Antitheses|

* Antipositivism
* Confirmation holism
* Critical theory
* Falsifiability
* Geisteswissenschaft
* Hermeneutics
* Historicism
* Historism
* Human science
* Humanities
* Problem of induction
* Reflectivism
* Methodological dualism / Praxeology

Related paradigm shifts
in the history of science|

* Non-Euclidean geometry (1830s)
* Uncertainty principle (1927)

Related topics|

* Behavioralism
* Post-behavioralism
* Critical rationalism
* Criticism of science
* Epistemology
* anarchism
* idealism
* nihilism
* pluralism
* realism
* Holism
* Instrumentalism
* Modernism
* Naturalism in literature
* Nomothetic–idiographic distinction
* Objectivity in science
* Operationalism
* Phenomenalism
* Philosophy of science
* Deductive-nomological model
* Ramsey sentence
* Sense-data theory
* Qualitative research
* Relationship between religion and science
* Sociology
* Social science
* Philosophy
* Structural functionalism
* Structuralism
* Structuration theory

Positivist-related debate

| Method|

* Methodenstreit (1890s)
* Werturteilsstreit (1909–1959)
* Positivismusstreit (1960s)
* Fourth Great Debate in international relations (1980s)
* Science wars (1990s)

|

Contributions|

* The Course in Positive Philosophy (1830)
* A General View of Positivism (1848)
* Critical History of Philosophy (1869)
* Idealism and Positivism (1879–1884)
* The Analysis of Sensations (1886)
* The Logic of Modern Physics (1927)
* Language, Truth, and Logic (1936)
* The Two Cultures (1959)
* The Universe in a Nutshell (2001)

Proponents|

* Richard Avenarius
* A. J. Ayer
* Alexander Bogdanov
* Auguste Comte
* Eugen Dühring
* Émile Durkheim
* Ernst Laas
* Ernst Mach
* Berlin Circle
* Vienna Circle

Criticism|

* Materialism and Empirio-criticism (1909)
* History and Class Consciousness (1923)
* The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1934)
* The Poverty of Historicism (1936)
* World Hypotheses (1942)
* Two Dogmas of Empiricism (1951)
* Truth and Method (1960)
* The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962)
* Conjectures and Refutations (1963)
* One-Dimensional Man (1964)
* Knowledge and Human Interests (1968)
* The Poverty of Theory (1978)
* The Scientific Image (1980)
* The Rhetoric of Economics (1986)

Critics|

* Theodor W. Adorno
* Gaston Bachelard
* Mario Bunge
* Wilhelm Dilthey
* Paul Feyerabend
* Hans-Georg Gadamer
* Thomas Kuhn
* György Lukács
* Karl Popper
* Willard Van Orman Quine
* Max Weber

Concepts in contention|

* Knowledge
* Objectivity
* Phronesis
* Truth
* Verstehen

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