Hermeneutics of Measurement

The topic of our study is the structure of temporality for different human acts and its consequences for a theory of measurement. We begin by studying a specific group of acts that we denote “complementary asymmetric acts”. To do this, we will introduce a paradigmatic example, the complementary acts of writing and reading. The act of writing is, from the point of view of time passing, directed towards the future, because it is intended to be read when the written text is finalized. In contrast, the act of reading is directed towards the past, for it will transpire after the act of writing. Thus, the asymmetric acts of writing and reading occur in an inverse order in respect to the flow of time. Acts that are polarized to the present will be denoted as parallel acts. They differ from complementary acts by not sharing the same referent object. Each parallel act presents their own object. For instance, [John brings Mary a bouquet of flowers] and [Mary is grateful and sends a book to John] are two parallel acts. We observe that the first act is polarized towards the future, while the second act is polarized towards the past. However, these polarizations approach to the present by excess or by default. We observe that while the act of measurement is a parallel act, the experimental act is a complementary act. We noticed that in a chain of acts, the rules of polarization follow the rules of signs of algebra. For instance, in the case of complementary acts we found that the signs follow the rules of multiplication and in the case of parallel acts follow the rules of the signs of the sum. The polarization of acting can explain some of the perplexities of measuremnt of quantum phenomena.