S. S. Stevens and the Origins of Operationism

@article{Hardcastle1995SSS,
  title={S. S. Stevens and the Origins of Operationism},
  author={Gary L. Hardcastle},
  journal={Philosophy of Science},
  year={1995},
  volume={62},
  pages={404 - 424}
}
  • G. Hardcastle
  • Published 1 September 1995
  • Philosophy
  • Philosophy of Science
Despite influencing the social sciences since the 1930s, S. S. Stevens' "operationist" philosophy of science has yet to be adequately understood. I reconstruct Stevens' operationism from his early work and assess the influence of various views (logical positivism, behaviorism and the "operational viewpoint" of P. W. Bridgman, among others) on Stevens. Stevens' operationism emerges, on my reconstruction, as a naturalistic methodological directive aimed at agreement, founded in turn on the belief… 
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