Article ID: CBB755982843

How incoherent measurement succeeds: Coordination and success in the measurement of the earth's polar flattening (2021)

unapi

The development of nineteenth-century geodetic measurement challenges the dominant coherentist account of metric success. Coherentists argue that measurements of a parameter are successful if their numerical outcomes convergence across varying contextual constraints. Aiming at numerical convergence, in turn, offers an operational aim for scientists to solve problems of coordination. Geodesists faced such a problem of coordination between two indicators of the earth's polar flattening, which were both based on imperfect ellipsoid models. While not achieving numerical convergence, their measurements produced novel data that grounded valuable theoretical hypotheses. Consequently, they ought to be regarded as epistemically successful. This insight warrants a dynamic revision of coherentism, which allows to judge the success of a metric based on both its coherence and fruitfulness. On that view, scientific measurement aims to coordinate theoretical definitions and produce novel data and theoretical insights.

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Authors & Contributors
Kershaw, Michael
Nencioni, Giuseppe
J. E. Wolff
Miguel Ohnesorge
Moema de Rezende Vergara
Pier Franco Nali
Concepts
Measurement
Geodesy
Exactness; precision; accuracy
Mathematics
Surveying
Standards and standardization
Time Periods
19th century
18th century
20th century, late
20th century, early
3rd century, B.C.
Ancient
Places
France
Italy
Egypt
Kashmir
Greenwich (England)
Arctic regions
Institutions
Convention du mètre (1875)
East India Company (English)
Royal Geographical Society
Observatório Nacional (Brazil)
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