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''The Logic of Modern Physics'' is a 1927
philosophy of science Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. Amongst its central questions are the difference between science and non-science, the reliability of scientific theories, ...
book by American physicist and Nobel laureate
Percy Williams Bridgman Percy Williams Bridgman (April 21, 1882 – August 20, 1961) was an American physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1946 for his work on the physics of high pressures. He also wrote extensively on the scientific method and on other ...
. The book is notable for explicitly identifying, analyzing, and explaining operationalism for the first time, and coining the term
operational definition An operational definition specifies concrete, replicable procedures designed to represent a construct. In the words of American psychologist S.S. Stevens (1935), "An operation is the performance which we execute in order to make known a concept." F ...
. Widely read by scholars in the
social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...
, 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.


History

''The Logic of Modern Physics'' is a 1927
philosophy of science Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. Amongst its central questions are the difference between science and non-science, the reliability of scientific theories, ...
book by American physicist and Nobel laureate
Percy Williams Bridgman Percy Williams Bridgman (April 21, 1882 – August 20, 1961) was an American physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1946 for his work on the physics of high pressures. He also wrote extensively on the scientific method and on other ...
notable for explicitly identifying, analyzing, and explaining operationalism for the first time.Sarkar, Sahotra and Pfeifer, Jessica (2005) ''The Philosophy of Science: An Encyclopedia, Volume 1'
p. 76
/ref>
Pragmatic Pragmatism is a philosophical movement. Pragmatism or pragmatic may also refer to: * "Pragmaticism", Charles Sanders Peirce's post-1905 branch of philosophy * Pragmatics, a subfield of linguistics and semiotics * ''Pragmatics'' (journal), an aca ...
philosophers like
Charles Sanders Peirce Charles Sanders Peirce ( ; September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American scientist, mathematician, logician, and philosopher who is sometimes known as "the father of pragmatism". According to philosopher Paul Weiss (philosopher), Paul ...
in the 1870s had already advanced solutions to the related ontological problems. Also, Sir
Arthur Eddington Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, (28 December 1882 – 22 November 1944) was an English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician. He was also a philosopher of science and a populariser of science. The Eddington limit, the natural limit to the lu ...
had discussed notions similar to operationalization in 1920 before Bridgman. Bridgman's formulation, however, became the most influential. In 1955 the variant ''operationism'' was described by A. Cornelius Benjamin. A. Cornelius Benjamin (1955
Operationism
via
HathiTrust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries. Its holdings include content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digit ...


Influence

Operationalism can be considered a variation on the positivist theme, and, arguably, a very powerful and influential one.Crowther-Heyck, Hunter (2005) ''Herbert A. Simon: The Bounds of Reason in Modern America'
p. 65
/ref> The book was widely read by scholars in the
social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...
, in which it had a huge influence in the 1930s and 1940s, In the social sciences, the main influence has been in psychology, (
behaviorism Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understand the behavior of humans and other animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex elicited by the pairing of certain antecedent stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that indivi ...
), where it has been even greater than that on the methodology in physics, for which it was originally intended.Green, Christopher D. (1992)
Of Immortal Mythological Beasts: Operationism in Psychology
' in ''Theory & Psychology'', 2, pp. 291–320 Examples of the influence on psychology in the 1930s and 1940s include
Stanley Smith Stevens Stanley Smith Stevens (November 4, 1906 – January 18, 1973) was an American psychologist who founded Harvard's Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory, studying psychoacoustics, and he is credited with the introduction of Stevens's power law. Stevens aut ...
(''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'').Crowther-Heyck (2005
p. 352
note 18 Since then, it has been the central influence of the official
epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...
governing psychological method for the whole century."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


See also

* Edward C. Tolman *
Heisenberg uncertainty principle The uncertainty principle, also known as Heisenberg's indeterminacy principle, is a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics. It states that there is a limit to the precision with which certain pairs of physical properties, such as position a ...
*
Henry Schultz Henry Schultz (September 4, 1893 – November 26, 1938) was an American economist, statistician, and one of the founders of econometrics. Paul Samuelson named Schultz (along with Harry Gunnison Brown, Allyn Abbott Young, Henry Ludwell Moore, F ...
*
Herbert A. Simon Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001) was an American scholar whose work influenced the fields of computer science, economics, and cognitive psychology. His primary research interest was decision-making within organi ...
*
Talcott Parsons Talcott Parsons (December 13, 1902 – May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist of the classical tradition, best known for his social action theory and structural functionalism. Parsons is considered one of the most influential figures in soci ...


Notes and references


External links

* Full text of
The Logic of Modern Physics
' at the Internet Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Logic of Modern Physics 1927 non-fiction books Philosophy of science books Contemporary philosophical literature Social sciences books Positivism Epistemology of science