Extension and Measurement: A Constructivist Program from Leibniz to Grassmann

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 44 (1):20-31 (2013)
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Abstract

Extension is probably the most general natural property. Is it a fundamental property? Leibniz claimed the answer was no, and that the structureless intuition of extension concealed more fundamental properties and relations. This paper follows Leibniz's program through Herbart and Riemann to Grassmann and uses Grassmann's algebra of points to build up levels of extensions algebraically. Finally, the connection between extension and measurement is considered.

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Erik C. Banks
Wright State University

Citations of this work

Grete Hermann as Neo-Kantian Philosopher of Space and Time Representation.Erik C. Banks - 2018 - Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy 6 (3).
The Epistemological Question of the Applicability of Mathematics.Paola Cantù - 2018 - Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy 6 (3).
Pasch's empiricism as methodological structuralism.Dirk Schlimm - 2020 - In Erich H. Reck & Georg Schiemer (eds.), The Pre-History of Mathematical Structuralism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 80-105.

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References found in this work

The Principles of Mathematics.Bertrand Russell - 1903 - Cambridge, England: Allen & Unwin.
Kant and the exact sciences.Michael Friedman - 1992 - Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
The Principles of Mathematics.Bertrand Russell - 1903 - Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale 11 (4):11-12.
Events.Roberto Casati & Achille C. Varzi - 2020 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
The Cement of the Universe.John Earman & J. L. Mackie - 1976 - Philosophical Review 85 (3):390.

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