December 11, 2012: Vadim Keyser
Department of Philosophy, UNR
"A Perspective on Perspectives"
4:00 p.m..
Edmund J. Cain Hall, Room 108H
A theory of scientific measurement should account for the physical interaction between the target and process of measurement as well as for the information gathered during measurement. Bas van Fraassen's view of measurement as perspective purports to account for both features. In exploring this view, I shall show that problems emerge about information, comparison of perspectives, and reliability. A direction for a new theory of measurement, which focuses on manipulation and stabilization in the measurement process, will then be presented.
Vadim Keyser recently received his PhD in philosophy at the University of California at Davis, having completed his dissertation “Measuring Biological Reality” under the supervision of James Griesemer. A former conditioning coach for the UC-Davis boxing team and a news editor for the Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter, Keyser is currently teaching courses as an adjunct instructor at both Sacramento State and UNR. Drawing inspiration for his teaching style from Bill Nye the Science Guy, Keyser has been known to undergo remarkable transformations for his students, and once even became a zombie for one of his lectures.