The Logic of Modern Physics

History

The Logic of Modern Physics is a 1927 philosophy of science book by American physicist and Nobel laureate Percy Williams Bridgman notable for explicitly identifying, analyzing, and explaining operationalism for the first time.

Pragmatic philosophers like Charles Sanders Peirce in the 1870s had already advanced solutions to the related ontological problems.

Also, Sir Arthur Eddington had discussed notions similar to operationalization in 1920 before Bridgman. Bridgman's formulation, however, became the most influential.

In 1955 the variant operationism was described by A. Cornelius Benjamin.

Influence

Operationalism can be considered a variation on the positivist theme, and, arguably, a very powerful and influential one.

The book was widely read by scholars in the social sciences, in which it had a huge influence in the 1930s and 1940s, In the social sciences, the main influence has been in psychology, (behaviorism), where it has been even greater than that on the methodology in physics, for which it was originally intended. Examples of the influence on psychology in the 1930s and 1940s include Stanley Smith Stevens (The Operational Basis of Psychology and The Operational Definition of Psychological Concepts), and Clark L. Hull (The Principles of Behavior: An Introduction to Behavior Theory). Since then, it has been the central influence of the official epistemology governing psychological method for the whole century."

References

1. Sarkar, Sahotra and Pfeifer, Jessica (2005) ''The Philosophy of Science: An Encyclopedia, Volume 1'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=od68ge7aF6wC&pg=PA76 p. 76]
2. [[Charles Sanders Peirce. Peirce, C.S.]] (1955) [1878] "How to make our ideas clear", in J. Buchler (editor) ''Philosophical Writings of Peirce'', pages 23–41, New York: Dover
3. Eddington, A. (1920). ''[[s:Space Time and Gravitation]]''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4. [[A. Cornelius Benjamin]] (1955) [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b563950&view=1up&seq=7&skin=2021 Operationism] via [[HathiTrust]]
5. Crowther-Heyck, Hunter (2005) ''Herbert A. Simon: The Bounds of Reason in Modern America'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=LV1rnS9NBjkC&pg=PA65 p. 65]
6. Green, Christopher D. (1992) ''[http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/199/1/operat.htm Of Immortal Mythological Beasts: Operationism in Psychology]'' in ''Theory & Psychology'', 2, pp. 291–320
7. Crowther-Heyck (2005) [https://books.google.com/books?id=LV1rnS9NBjkC&pg=PA352 p. 352] note 18
8. Koch, Sigmund (1992) ''Psychology's Bridgman vs. Bridgman's Bridgman: An Essay in Reconstruction.'', in ''[[Theory and Psychology]]'' vol. 2 no. 3 (1992) p. 275