CFP: 29th Boulder Conference on the History and Philosophy of Science, Topic: Measurement Across the Sciences

Submissions: We invite submissions on any topic related to historical or philosophical aspects of scientific measurement. Some possible topics might include (but are certainly not limited to):

General issues in scientific measurement (e.g., instrumentation, calibration, standardization, precision, definitions of ‘measurement’ and ‘quantity’, the role of the unit, measurement technologies, the role of metaphor, philosophy of metrology, measures of confirmation, causal impact, probabilities, etc.)

Measurement in the physical sciences (e.g., measurement in quantum mechanics, measurement in engineering, measuring the very large, the very small, time, etc.)

Measurement in the biological and health sciences (e.g., measuring fitness, selection, drift, gene flow, relatedness, ancestry, life expectancy, obesity, health, disease rates, disability, etc.)

Measurement in the social sciences (e.g., defining and measuring psychological attributes and disorders, educational testing, the role of psychometric models, reflective vs. formative measurement, multidimensional measurement, cost-benefit assessment, measuring preferences, utilities, inflation, unemployment, poverty, etc.)

History of measurement (e.g., changes in the meaning and practice of measurement through time, interactions between measurement and theory-development, sociology of quantification)

Social values and measurement (e.g., corruption of measurement, politics of measures of social problems, values affecting choice of measurement, misuse of measures of cognitive attributes)

Faculty interested in presenting are invited to submit an abstract of roughly 500 words, while graduate students are invited to submit full papers of roughly 3000-4000 words. Projects should be appropriate for a presentation time of 20-30 minutes. Submissions are due by June 30, 2013 and should be sent as an email attachment (in .doc, .docx or .pdf format) to the organizer account (and cc:d to Professor Cleland): [email protected]; [email protected]. Acceptances will be announced by August 15, 2013.

Graduate stipend: Graduate students are encouraged to submit for the program; those whose papers are accepted will receive a modest stipend of $100 to help offset travel expenses.