The direct use of a physical law for the purpose of measurement creates a problem of circularity: the law needs to be empirically tested in order to ensure the reliability of measurement, but the testing requires that we already know the value of the quantity to be measured. This problem is discussed through some detailed examples of energy measurements in quantum physics; three major methods are analyzed in their interrelation, with a focus on the method of “material retardation.” It seems that the only reasonable solution is to establish the law needed for the measurement by relying on an alternate method of measurement. This solution is also circular, since it amounts to letting different measurement methods justify each other. However, this circularity can be fruitful for the process of concept building; meaning can be created in a web of interconnected measurement methods.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
Summer 1995
June 01 1995
Circularity and Reliability in Measurement
Hasok Chang
Hasok Chang
University College London
Search for other works by this author on:
Hasok Chang
University College London
Online ISSN: 1530-9274
Print ISSN: 1063-6145
©1995 by The University of Chicago. All reserved.
1995
The University of Chicago. All reserved.
Perspectives on Science (1995) 3 (2): 153–172.
Citation
Hasok Chang; Circularity and Reliability in Measurement. Perspectives on Science 1995; 3 (2): 153–172. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/posc_a_00479
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Could not validate captcha. Please try again.
Sign in via your Institution
Sign in via your InstitutionEmail alerts
Advertisement
Cited By
Related Articles
Experiment, Community, and the Constitution of Nature in the Seventeenth Century
Perspectives on Science (June,1995)
Circular Nodes in Neural Networks
Neural Comput (February,1996)
Circular Causation, Circular Cognition: A Tour Around Some Common Confusions
Artif Life (November,2019)
Future-Proofing Capitalism: The Paradox of the Circular Economy for Plastics
Global Environmental Politics (April,2021)
Related Book Chapters
A Fundamental Circularity
The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience
Living with Circularity
The Art of the Metaobject Protocol
Toward a Poetics for Circulars
New Media Poetics: Contexts, Technotexts, and Theories
Hierarchy, Circularity, and Double Reduction
The Contours of Agency: Essays on Themes from Harry Frankfurt