The Measure of Reality
E135798
The Measure of Reality is a historical study by Alfred W. Crosby that explores how quantification and measurement transformed Western thought and culture from the Middle Ages onward.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Measure of Reality canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1186285 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Measure of Reality Context triple: [Alfred W. Crosby, notableWork, The Measure of Reality]
-
A.
The Bounds of Sense
The Bounds of Sense is a major work of analytic philosophy by P. F. Strawson that critically examines and partially reconstructs Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.
-
B.
The Restless Universe
The Restless Universe is a popular science book by physicist Max Born that explains modern physics and quantum theory to a general audience in clear, accessible language.
-
C.
The Pisa Lectures
The Pisa Lectures are a series of influential talks by Noam Chomsky that laid out the core ideas of his Government and Binding theory in generative grammar.
-
D.
The Machine of the World
The Machine of the World is a famous allegorical vision in Luís de Camões’ epic poem *Os Lusíadas*, in which the cosmos and its secrets are revealed to the Portuguese explorers.
-
E.
The Relativity of Wrong
The Relativity of Wrong is an essay by Isaac Asimov that explains how scientific ideas become progressively less wrong over time, arguing that errors in science are matters of degree rather than absolute falsehood.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Measure of Reality Target entity description: The Measure of Reality is a historical study by Alfred W. Crosby that explores how quantification and measurement transformed Western thought and culture from the Middle Ages onward.
-
A.
The Bounds of Sense
The Bounds of Sense is a major work of analytic philosophy by P. F. Strawson that critically examines and partially reconstructs Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.
-
B.
The Restless Universe
The Restless Universe is a popular science book by physicist Max Born that explains modern physics and quantum theory to a general audience in clear, accessible language.
-
C.
The Pisa Lectures
The Pisa Lectures are a series of influential talks by Noam Chomsky that laid out the core ideas of his Government and Binding theory in generative grammar.
-
D.
The Machine of the World
The Machine of the World is a famous allegorical vision in Luís de Camões’ epic poem *Os Lusíadas*, in which the cosmos and its secrets are revealed to the Portuguese explorers.
-
E.
The Relativity of Wrong
The Relativity of Wrong is an essay by Isaac Asimov that explains how scientific ideas become progressively less wrong over time, arguing that errors in science are matters of degree rather than absolute falsehood.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (44)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
historical study ⓘ |
| argues |
measurement reshaped perceptions of time and space
ⓘ
quantification was central to the rise of Western dominance ⓘ |
| author | Alfred W. Crosby ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| discusses |
development of precise timekeeping
ⓘ
development of standardized weights and measures ⓘ use of quantification in commerce ⓘ use of quantification in navigation ⓘ use of quantification in science ⓘ |
| examines |
cultural consequences of measurement
ⓘ
relationship between quantification and capitalism ⓘ relationship between quantification and science ⓘ relationship between quantification and technology ⓘ rise of numerical thinking ⓘ role of mathematics in Western expansion ⓘ standardization of measures ⓘ |
| field |
cultural history
ⓘ
history ⓘ history of technology ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
history of quantification in the West
ⓘ
impact of measurement on culture ⓘ transformation of Western worldview ⓘ |
| genre |
history of science
ⓘ
intellectual history ⓘ |
| hasAcademicReception |
used in university courses on Western civilization
ⓘ
widely cited in history of science ⓘ |
| hasNotableConcept |
cultural shift toward measurement
ⓘ
numerical representation of reality ⓘ quantitative mentality ⓘ |
| hasPerspective | Eurocentric ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
economic history
ⓘ
history of science scholarship ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
Western culture
ⓘ
Western thought ⓘ measurement ⓘ quantification ⓘ |
| partOf | Alfred W. Crosby's studies on Western expansion ⓘ |
| relatedWork |
Ecological Imperialism
ⓘ
Columbian Exchange ⓘ
surface form:
The Columbian Exchange
|
| temporalFocus |
Middle Ages
ⓘ
early modern period ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Measure of Reality Description of subject: The Measure of Reality is a historical study by Alfred W. Crosby that explores how quantification and measurement transformed Western thought and culture from the Middle Ages onward.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.