Incerteza de medição: adoção do conceito e implicações epistemológicas

• Autor(a) principal: David, Mariano Gazineu
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: [e-mail]
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UERJ
• Texto Completo: http://www.bdtd.uerj.br/handle/1/18654
• topic: Measurement uncertainty; Philosophy of measurement; Metrology; Philosophy of experiment; Incerteza de medição; Filosofia da medição; Metrologia; Filosofia do experimento; CIENCIAS HUMANAS::FILOSOFIA; CIENCIAS HUMANAS::FILOSOFIA::EPISTEMOLOGIA

The publication of the Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement (GUM) in 1993, which made it possible to standardize the methodology for assessing uncertainty and for expressing the measurement result, constitutes an important milestone in the field of metrology. The publication of the guide also implied a change from the traditional error approach to the uncertainty approach. This thesis discusses issues related to the adoption of the measurement uncertainty concept and its epistemological implications, focusing on scientific measurements of physical quantities.Initially, the research addresses the various theories and philosophies of measurement, with emphasis on the most recent works. It then discusses concepts and issues related to the use of mathematics in measurements and the contents of the theories of probability and statistics used to estimate uncertainty. The change in approach promoted by the GUM mainly involves the concepts of measurement error, true quantity value, and definitional uncertainty, which the thesis discusses based on scientific and philosophical works. The research points out that the change privileged epistemological aspects of measurement and that uncertainty, in addition to being the most complete index of measurement quality, plays an “articulating” role in the metrological network. The thesis also focuses on the measurement process from the point of view of the philosophy of experiment, focusing on the sources of experimental errors and uncertainties.The work discusses the concept of model as a mediator between the theories and the physical properties targeted and the functions that the models play in the measurements, especially the function of enabling simplifications, approximations, and corrections. Based on a genealogical investigation of the sources of uncertainty in measurement processes, the thesis identifies three main instances from which uncertainties emanate: modeling, the complexity of the empirical system and the mathematical approximation. The inevitability of uncertainty in measurements is due to the limited scope of scientific theories and the interactions between the properties of the empirical system and the measuring instruments. Based on the conclusions obtained and on recent publications, the work argues in favor of the fertility of epistemological approaches to measurements and their uncertainties.