Show simple item record

Files in this item

Thumbnail

Item metadata

dc.contributor.authorScharp, Kevin
dc.date.accessioned2017-12-14T11:30:06Z
dc.date.available2017-12-14T11:30:06Z
dc.date.issued2019-06
dc.identifier.citationScharp , K 2019 , ' On the indeterminacy of the meter ' , Synthese , vol. 196 , no. 6 , pp. 2487-2517 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-017-1552-3en
dc.identifier.issn0039-7857
dc.identifier.otherPURE: 251752920
dc.identifier.otherPURE UUID: 26597b99-43d3-4403-b4d5-4a4e59d237a3
dc.identifier.otherScopus: 85035761001
dc.identifier.otherWOS: 000472232900019
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0003-3900-4087/work/69029503
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10023/12331
dc.description.abstractIn the International System of Units (SI), ‘meter’ is defined in terms of seconds and the speed of light, and ‘second’ is defined in terms of properties of cesium 133 atoms. I show that one consequence of these definitions is that: if there is a minimal length (e.g., Planck length), then the chances that ‘meter’ is completely determinate are only 1 in 21,413,747. Moreover, we have good reason to believe that there is a minimal length. Thus, it is highly probable that ‘meter’ is indeterminate. If the meter is indeterminate, then any unit in the SI system that is defined in terms of the meter is indeterminate as well. This problem affects most of the familiar derived units in SI. As such, it is highly likely that indeterminacy pervades the SI system. The indeterminacy of the meter is compared and contrasted with emerging literature on indeterminacy in measurement locutions (as in Eran Tal’s recent argument that measurement units are vague in certain ways). Moreover, the indeterminacy of the meter has ramifications for the metaphysics of measurement (e.g., problems for widespread assumptions about the nature of conventionality, as in Theodore Sider’s Writing the Book of the World) and the semantics of measurement locutions (e.g., undermining the received view that measurement phrases are absolutely precise as in Christopher Kennedy’s and Louise McNally’s semantics for gradable adjectives). Finally, it is shown how to redefine ‘meter’ and ‘second’ to completely avoid the indeterminacy.
dc.format.extent31
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofSyntheseen
dc.rights© Author(s) 2017. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.en
dc.subjectIndeterminacyen
dc.subjectMeasure phrasesen
dc.subjectMeasurementen
dc.subjectMetaphysicsen
dc.subjectMeteren
dc.subjectPlanck lengthen
dc.subjectB Philosophy (General)en
dc.subjectPhilosophyen
dc.subjectSocial Sciences(all)en
dc.subjectT-NDASen
dc.subjectBDCen
dc.subjectR2Cen
dc.subject.lccB1en
dc.titleOn the indeterminacy of the meteren
dc.typeJournal articleen
dc.description.versionPublisher PDFen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Philosophyen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. St Andrews Centre for Exoplanet Scienceen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-017-1552-3
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden


This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record