Eran Tal (McGill University)
The upcoming redefinition of metric units may strike philosophers as counterintuitive. How can the uncertainties associated with some fundamental constants be reduced through definition alone? Answering this and related puzzles calls for a reconsideration of the epistemic goals of metrology. Besides amassing new knowledge, I argue that metrology is also concerned with managing ignorance. Ignorance claims, like knowledge claims, are underdetermined by data, and depend on auxiliary assumptions for their testing. The upcoming metric reform involves a shift in these assumptions, and hence a redistribution of uncertainty among evidentially connected empirical claims.
