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Suppes’ Contributions to the Theory of Measurement

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Patrick Suppes

Part of the book series: Profiles ((PROF,volume 1))

Abstract

More than any other living person, Suppes has affected contemporary presentations of theories of measurement. They bear the imprint of his views as to the appropriate axiomatic formulation of the intended empirical information and the nature of the theorems to be proved. I do not mean to imply that before him scientists were unaware of what needed to be done, but rather that he has stated the requirements more generally and more forcefully than others had. In essence, he formulated more clearly than anyone before him the common features of existing measurement theories — primarily those of Helmholtz (1887), Hölder (1901), Campbell (1920, 1928), Wiener (1921), von Neumann and Morgenstern (1947), and Savage (1954), as well as his own contributions of the 1950’s — and he emphasized various relevant logical distinctions. Of course, philosophers of physics had earlier discussed the nature of measurement, especially important being the works of Bridgman (1922), Campbell (1920, 1928), and Cohen and Nagel (1934), but none had achieved a fully satisfactory mathematical treatment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harvard University, USA

    R. Duncan Luce

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  1. R. Duncan Luce
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford University, USA

    Radu J. Bogdan

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© 1979 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland

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Luce, R.D. (1979). Suppes’ Contributions to the Theory of Measurement. In: Bogdan, R.J. (eds) Patrick Suppes. Profiles, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9397-6_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9397-6_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-277-0951-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-9397-6

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