When Measurement Becomes Metaphysics: Physics and the Nihinym of "Free Will"

Measurement cannot be the foundation of science, and therefore of physics, because measurement cannot define or justify itself. A common misunderstanding is that "the data speaks for itself", however, data are not a singular entity. A datum can only be identified within a system, and so the system must exist before the datum. In other words, empirical evidence presupposes rational structure. Physics therefore begins not with instruments, but with rational rules, known as axioms, that render measurement intelligible. This text presents a widespread reversal of rational structure in current physical theory, and how this reversal prevents the identification of the concept of "free will" as a nihinym within empiricism. A construction of the words nihil, meaning nothing, and onoma, meaning name; nihinym means name or word with no meaning, or concept that failed the null hypothesis.