https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6903-0468
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ABSTRACT
In this journal, Middleton and Murgueitio Ramírez argue that absolute velocity is measurable, contrary to the received wisdom. Specifically, they claim that ‘there exists at least one reasonable analysis of measurement according to which the speedometer in [a world called “the Basic World”] measures the absolute velocity of the car.’ In this note, I critically respond to that claim: the analysis of measurement that Middleton and Murgueitio Ramírez propose is not reasonable; nor does it entail that absolute velocities are measurable.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Wallace [Citation2019] also challenges this orthodoxy, but I will not discuss his paper here. Nevertheless, many of the same points apply.
2 The argument presented here follows Roberts [Citation2008]. For similar arguments, see Baker [Citation2010], Dewar [Citation2015], and Dasgupta [Citation2016].
3 I thank Sebastian Murgueitio Ramírez and Lydia Drabkin-Reiter for helpful comments on a draft of this discussion note, and all participants in Sebastian’s discussion group at the Midwest Summer School in Philosophy of Physics 2020 for an engaging conversation on these and related issues.