| _version_ | 1866901227374116864 |
|---|---|
| author | Surana, Jainil |
| author_facet | Surana, Jainil |
| contents | <p><span>Contemporary scientific practice often assumes that increasingly precise measurement yields progressively closer access to objective reality. This assumption underwrites much of experimental physics and empirical methodology, where refinement of instruments is taken to correspond to deeper ontological insight. At the same time, foundational debates in physics and philosophy of science repeatedly expose limits of measurability, observer-independence, and theory-neutral observation, creating a tension between practical success and conceptual uncertainty.</span></p> <p><span>Despite this tension, there is no widely accepted ontological account explaining how objectivity remains possible when all measurement is mediated, theory-laden, and constrained by experimental frameworks. Objectivity is frequently defended pragmatically or operationally, but its ontological basis remains underarticulated.</span></p> <p><span>This paper proposes a structural reinterpretation of measurement using the Three-Circle Ontology. Within this framework, measurement is understood not as direct access to reality-in-itself, but as a constraint-sensitive rendering of outcomes governed by underlying structural relations. Objectivity is thereby reconceived as stability and invariance across measurements under shared constraints, rather than transparency to an observer-independent substrate.</span></p> <p><span>The paper does not critique physics, deny empirical success, or endorse anti-realist conclusions. Its contribution is strictly conceptual: reframing objectivity as a property of structurally constrained measurement processes. This account preserves the legitimacy of scientific objectivity while clarifying why it does not require unmediated access to reality.</span></p> |
| format | Recurso digital |
| id | zenodo_https___doi_org_10_5281_zenodo_18008299 |
| institution | Zenodo |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publisher | Zenodo |
| record_format | zenodo |
| spellingShingle | Measurement Without Access: Objectivity as Structural Stability Under Constraint Surana, Jainil Philosophy of Science Philosophy of Physics Epistemology Scientific Methodology Measurement Objectivity Scientific Measurement Structural Realism Theory-Ladenness Observer Independence Measurement Limits Scientific Objectivity Structural Constraints Experimental Practice Invariance Scientific Explanation Methodology of Science Ontology Representation Physics Foundations Constraint-Based Explanation Three-Circle Ontology <p><span>Contemporary scientific practice often assumes that increasingly precise measurement yields progressively closer access to objective reality. This assumption underwrites much of experimental physics and empirical methodology, where refinement of instruments is taken to correspond to deeper ontological insight. At the same time, foundational debates in physics and philosophy of science repeatedly expose limits of measurability, observer-independence, and theory-neutral observation, creating a tension between practical success and conceptual uncertainty.</span></p> <p><span>Despite this tension, there is no widely accepted ontological account explaining how objectivity remains possible when all measurement is mediated, theory-laden, and constrained by experimental frameworks. Objectivity is frequently defended pragmatically or operationally, but its ontological basis remains underarticulated.</span></p> <p><span>This paper proposes a structural reinterpretation of measurement using the Three-Circle Ontology. Within this framework, measurement is understood not as direct access to reality-in-itself, but as a constraint-sensitive rendering of outcomes governed by underlying structural relations. Objectivity is thereby reconceived as stability and invariance across measurements under shared constraints, rather than transparency to an observer-independent substrate.</span></p> <p><span>The paper does not critique physics, deny empirical success, or endorse anti-realist conclusions. Its contribution is strictly conceptual: reframing objectivity as a property of structurally constrained measurement processes. This account preserves the legitimacy of scientific objectivity while clarifying why it does not require unmediated access to reality.</span></p> |
| title | Measurement Without Access: Objectivity as Structural Stability Under Constraint |
| topic | Philosophy of Science Philosophy of Physics Epistemology Scientific Methodology Measurement Objectivity Scientific Measurement Structural Realism Theory-Ladenness Observer Independence Measurement Limits Scientific Objectivity Structural Constraints Experimental Practice Invariance Scientific Explanation Methodology of Science Ontology Representation Physics Foundations Constraint-Based Explanation Three-Circle Ontology |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18008299 |