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Table of Contents
Intro
Praise for Epistemology of the Human Sciences
Epigraph Source Acknowledgements
Contents
List of Tables
1 Preface
Note
References
2 Understanding, Explaining, and Knowing
The Nature of Understanding
From Axiomatics to Hypothetico-Deductive Method
Learning and the Limited Role of Experience
Where Does the Illusion of Certainty Come From?
Mathematics and Other Notational Forms of Linguistic Precision
How Does Meaning Relate to Understanding?
The Use of Mathematics in the Social and Physical Domains
Measurement
Understanding and Knowledge Are Functional Concepts Not Subject to Natural Law Determinism
Pitfalls and Promises of Ambiguity and Ignorance
A Bucket or a Searchlight?
Note
References
Part I Knowledge as Classification, Judgment, and Mensuration
3 Problems of Mensuration and Experimentation
Physics and the Cat
Another Fundamental Problem: Experimental Science Requires Classical Level Apparatus
Historical Excursus: The Nature and Role of Experiment in Classical Science
Change Is Inevitably Scale-Dependent, and Theoretically Specified
Note
References
4 Problems of Measurement and Meaning in Biology
The State-of-the-Art (Isn't the Best Science)
Probability Absolutes and Absolute Probabilities
Replicability Is Scale Dependent
What is an Organism?
Phenomenalistic Physics is Incompatible with the Facts of Biology and the Nature of Epistemology
Note
References
5 Psychology Cannot Quantify Its Research, Do Experiments, or Be Based on Behaviorism
A: Psychology Has Neither Ratio Measurement Nor Experimentation
The Psychology of Robots Has Nothing to Do with the Psychology of Subjects
No One Has Ever Discovered a Natural Law in Psychology
Social Science Is Just Fine with Demonstration Studies
B: Epistemic Fads and Fallacies Underlying Behaviorism
The Failure of Phenomenalism
Excursus: Consciousness Alone Is Not the Issue
The Spell of Ernst Mach
The Haunted Universe Doctrine of Behaviorism
Control at All Costs
Note
References
6 Taking the Measure of Functional Things
The Role of Statistical Inference in Contemporary Physics
How Shall We Study Co-occurrence Relationships?
In Defense of Miss Fisbee
References
7 Statistics Without Measurement
Nonparametric Statistical Procedures Work with Nominal, Ordinal, and Some Interval Data
Generalizability, Robustness, and Similar Issues
Back to the Drawing Board, at Least for a While
Testing a Theory in Psychology is Paradoxical for Those Who Do not Understand Problems of Scaling and Mensuration
Back to History for a Moment
References
8 Economic Calculation of Value Is Not Measurement, Not Apriori, and Its Study Is Not Experimental
Austrian "Subjectivism" Begins with the Impossibility of "Physical" Mensuration
Praise for Epistemology of the Human Sciences
Epigraph Source Acknowledgements
Contents
List of Tables
1 Preface
Note
References
2 Understanding, Explaining, and Knowing
The Nature of Understanding
From Axiomatics to Hypothetico-Deductive Method
Learning and the Limited Role of Experience
Where Does the Illusion of Certainty Come From?
Mathematics and Other Notational Forms of Linguistic Precision
How Does Meaning Relate to Understanding?
The Use of Mathematics in the Social and Physical Domains
Measurement
Understanding and Knowledge Are Functional Concepts Not Subject to Natural Law Determinism
Pitfalls and Promises of Ambiguity and Ignorance
A Bucket or a Searchlight?
Note
References
Part I Knowledge as Classification, Judgment, and Mensuration
3 Problems of Mensuration and Experimentation
Physics and the Cat
Another Fundamental Problem: Experimental Science Requires Classical Level Apparatus
Historical Excursus: The Nature and Role of Experiment in Classical Science
Change Is Inevitably Scale-Dependent, and Theoretically Specified
Note
References
4 Problems of Measurement and Meaning in Biology
The State-of-the-Art (Isn't the Best Science)
Probability Absolutes and Absolute Probabilities
Replicability Is Scale Dependent
What is an Organism?
Phenomenalistic Physics is Incompatible with the Facts of Biology and the Nature of Epistemology
Note
References
5 Psychology Cannot Quantify Its Research, Do Experiments, or Be Based on Behaviorism
A: Psychology Has Neither Ratio Measurement Nor Experimentation
The Psychology of Robots Has Nothing to Do with the Psychology of Subjects
No One Has Ever Discovered a Natural Law in Psychology
Social Science Is Just Fine with Demonstration Studies
B: Epistemic Fads and Fallacies Underlying Behaviorism
The Failure of Phenomenalism
Excursus: Consciousness Alone Is Not the Issue
The Spell of Ernst Mach
The Haunted Universe Doctrine of Behaviorism
Control at All Costs
Note
References
6 Taking the Measure of Functional Things
The Role of Statistical Inference in Contemporary Physics
How Shall We Study Co-occurrence Relationships?
In Defense of Miss Fisbee
References
7 Statistics Without Measurement
Nonparametric Statistical Procedures Work with Nominal, Ordinal, and Some Interval Data
Generalizability, Robustness, and Similar Issues
Back to the Drawing Board, at Least for a While
Testing a Theory in Psychology is Paradoxical for Those Who Do not Understand Problems of Scaling and Mensuration
Back to History for a Moment
References
8 Economic Calculation of Value Is Not Measurement, Not Apriori, and Its Study Is Not Experimental
Austrian "Subjectivism" Begins with the Impossibility of "Physical" Mensuration