Blackwell Reference Online

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P hilosophy of science, philosophy of mind [from Latin operari , work] Also called operationalism, a theory first proposed in physics by P. W. Bridgman , and then applied to other fields. It holds that things and their properties, powers , and interactions, as the subject-matter of science, should be understood in terms of operations that scientists perform. Scientific knowledge is knowledge of operations, and the meaning of scientific terms is established in terms of a description of a set of operations, that is, in terms of operational definitions. To be operation-ally meaningful, a statement must be confirmable at least in principle. This theory denies the distinction between theory and evidence. In the final analysis, a scientific theory is connected to operations that are empirically rooted. As a movement within the philosophy of science, it is closely linked with logical positivism. The application of this theory to the field of psychology led to the emergence of behaviorism. A major difficulty is that it cannot guarantee that the experiments or selected operations are scientifically valuable or that the meaning of a term remains the same if it is approached from more than one experimental direction. “The principle of operationism says that a term is empirically meaningful only if an operational definition can be given for it.” Carnap, “The Methodological Character ... log in or subscribe to read full text