Aristotle’s Measurement Dilemma
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23200601 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Barbara M Sattler (0000-0003-0781-6320, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Publication date | 2017-09-21 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | BOOK |
| Venue | Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Volume 52 (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/oso/9780198805762.003.0007 |
| OpenAlex | W2969334845 |
| ISBN | 9780198805762 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 7 |
This paper has two main goals: first, it reconstructs Aristotle’s account of measurement in the Metaphysics and shows how it connects to modern notions of measurement. Second, it demonstrates that Aristotle’s notion of measurement works only for simple measures, and leads him into a dilemma once it comes to measuring complex phenomena, such as motion, where two or more different aspects, such as time and space, have to be taken into account. This is shown with the help of Aristotle’s reaction to one of the problems that Zeno’s dichotomy paradox raises: Aristotle implicitly employs a complex measure of motion when solving this problem, while he explicitly characterizes the measure of motion as a simple measure in the Physics .
Calculus (dental) · Classical mechanics · Classical physics · Dilemma · Epistemology · Measure (data warehouse) · Measurement problem · Metaphysics · Motion (physics) · Physics · Quantum · Quantum mechanics · Simple (philosophy) · Theoretical physics · Zeno's paradoxes · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Computer Science · Historical Philosophy and Science · History of Science and Medicine · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2023 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |