Abstract

Professor Bridgman is a physicist of distinction who has contributed to the philosophy of physics. Dissatisfied with the traditional obscurities and irrationalities of certain branches of his subject, he evolved for himself a logic of modern physics, and focussed his attention on that aspect of scientific method which he called “operational”. His name has been associated with “operational research” and “operational definition” ever since. The present volume, a second and enlarged edition, is a collection of non-technical writings that illustrate what the operational point of view can lead to. The papers are of varying length, some of them quite slight, and the quality is likewise variable. It seems to me the book would improve with pruning, and editing. Besides some irksome mannerisms, there are crudities of style that one would wish to see removed.