Operationalism

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The operationalism (from the Latin operatio. Performing), sometimes Operationismus called, marks the thesis that the meaning of a term of no more than there is a series of operations.

The question epistemological position goes back to the physicist Percy Williams Bridgman , who in his 1927 published The Logic of Modern Physics with the epistemological interpretation of the theory of relativity apart sets.

Bridgman's strict operationalism

In Bridgman's view, scientific objectivity is based on the use of operational definitions . For a scientific term to be empirically valid, it must be defined in the form of specific measurement methods; just as "length" is defined by applying a meter rule to the respective object to be measured. The meaning of a term is exhausted in a series of measurable measuring operations; the term is synonymous with the operations concerned. Thus Bridgman has not only the criteria of validity ( validity settled) a concept outside of human consciousness, but equated the concept itself with a lot of awareness of independent operations.

Critique of Operationalism

While the expression “ operational definition ” has found general, if not always particularly precise, use, Bridgman's epistemological radical position, the reduction of importance to measurement operations, has met with sharp criticism. The position is methodologically untenable because the theory-dependent meaning of a term is fundamentally independent of the corresponding measurement method; the latter merely indicate under which empirical conditions one can speak of the corresponding phenomenon or an empirical realization of the term. The meaning of a term is by no means limited to a single, specific measurement method; it is theoretically possible and permissible that one and the same term can be measured using different methods. As with Rudolf Carnap's analogous attempt at reduction , reference is made to unsolved difficulties in defining dispositional terms, namely basically by the fact that terms are "theory-impregnated".

For Hilary Putnam it is "well known" that Bridgman's "strict operationalism" "fails to do justice to the actual use of scientific and everyday expressions." Liberalized versions of operationalism like those of Carnap or Ramsey would do justice to actual use, but "only by making a miracle out of the communicability of scientific results ." "No operational definition [provides] a necessary and sufficient condition for the application of any such word".

According to Karl Popper , universals or dispositional expressions transcend what is given by the respective experience. The hope that by solving the problem of the subjunctive conditional clauses an operational definition of the universals can be achieved is therefore unfounded.

Methodological and philosophical reception and parallels

Psychological behaviorism was linked to operationalism by its founder Burrhus Frederic Skinner . Herbert Dingle's approach had many parallels with Bridgman, but also rationalistic accents.

Hugo Dingler's “Operativismus” is not to be confused with “Operationalismus” because, in contrast to Bridgman, he sets up a philosophical justification program ( Certismus ) in order to justify the natural sciences in a safe and exact way through a system of operations. Dingler reviews Bridgman's main work and himself develops a theory of a general constructivist approach, in the history of which the Erlangen constructivism is also included - Paul Lorenzen becomes a student of Dingler.

Parallels to Bridgman's early operationalism can be seen in Rudolf Carnap . Science theorists such as S. Toulmin , WH Watson, and NR Hanson are also credited with related ideas. They are also influenced by Ludwig Wittgenstein's view that the meaning of linguistic expressions results from their use.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Claus Zittel: Knowledge and social construction. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-05-003725-3 , p. 132 ( online )
  2. ↑ Wolfgang J. Koschnick : Standard dictionary for the social sciences. Volume 2: MZ. KG Saur, Munich / London / New York / Paris 1993, ISBN 3-598-11080-4 , p. 1047.
  3. ^ Percy Williams Bridgman: The Logic of Modern Physics . 1927.
  4. ↑ cf. Karl-Dieter Opp: Methodology of the Social Sciences. Introduction to problems of their theorizing. Reinbek 1970, p. 130.
  5. ↑ VS Švyrjev: On the relationship between the theoretical and empirical level of knowledge. In: Studies on the Logic of Scientific Knowledge. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1967. (Moscow 1964), pp. 97f.
  6. ^ Rudolf Carnap: Theoretical Concepts. Journal for philosophical research, XIV. (1960), p. 209 ff., P. 571 ff.
  7. ↑ Hans Lenk: Philosophy in the technical age. W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Berlin / Cologne / Mainz 1971, p. 86f.
  8. ↑ Hilary Putnam: The Meaning of "Meaning". Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 1979, p. 50.
  9. ↑ Hilary Putnam: The Meaning of "Meaning". Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 1979, p. 50.
  10. ↑ Hilary Putnam: The Meaning of "Meaning". Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 1979, p. 52.
  11. ↑ Axel Bühler: Universals, Dispositions and Natural Necessity (Appendix * X). In: Herbert Keuth (Ed.): Karl Popper, Logic of Research. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-05-003021-6 , p. 177.
  12. ^ Karl Popper: Universals, Disposition and Natural Necessity. In: Logic of Research. New attachment. 8th edition. JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Tübingen 1984, ISBN 3-16-944778-5 , p. 396.
  13. ^ GJ Whitrow: Obituary - Dingle, Herbert. In: Royal Astronomical Society Quarterly Journal. 21 (1980), pp. 333-336.
  14. ^ Stefan Jensen: Knowledge Constructivism Systems Theory. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Opladen 1999, ISBN 3-531-13381-0 , p. 92 ( online )
  15. ^ Walter Zitterbarth: The Erlangen constructivism in its relation to constructive realism. (PDF; 94 kB). In: MF Peschl (Hrsg.): Forms of constructivism in discussion. WUV – Universitätsverlag, Vienna 1991, pp. 73–87.
  16. ↑ George N. Schlesinger , p. 33 with reference to Philipp Frank: Modern Science and Its Philosophy Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 1949, p. 44.
  17. ^ Herbert Feigl : Positivism in the 20th Century. In: The Dictionary of the History of Ideas.

literature

  • Percy Williams Bridgman: The logic of modern physics . Macmillan, 1958.
  • George N. Schlesinger : Operationalism. In: Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Volume 7, pp. 29-33.
  • Carl Gustav Hempel : A Logical Appraisal of Operationalism. In: Scientific Monthly. 79, pp. 215-220 (1954). (also in: Aspects of Scientific Explanation. New York 1965, pp. 123-133)
  • Herbert Feigl : Operationism and Scientific Method. In: Psychological Review. 52 (1945), pp. 250-259. (also in: Herbert Feigl, Wilfrid Sellars (Ed.): Readings in Philosophical Analysis. New York 1949, pp. 510-514)
  • Gustav Bergmann: The sense and nonsense of operationalism. In: Ernst Topitsch (ed.): Logics of the social sciences. Cologne Berlin 1965, pp. 104–112. (first: 1954)
  • Kurt Huebner: Critique of Scientific Reason. Verlag Karl Alber, Freiburg / Munich 1979.

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