143
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
L. Mari et al., Measurement across the Sciences, Springer Series in
Measurement Science and Technology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65558-7_6
Chapter 6
Values, scales, and the existence
of properties
6.1 Introduction
We have proposed that properties of objects are associated with modes of empirical
interaction of objects with their environments, with the acknowledgment that this
interaction makes objects experimentally comparable with one another. Thus we
ground our framework upon the assumption that through properties we account for
the relational behavior of objects. As already mentioned, this does not mean that we
consider a property to exist only if an interaction is observed: our position is simply
that observed interactions among objects can be accounted for in terms of their
properties. We also accept that the description of an interaction among objects in
terms of given properties is always revisable: there must be properties there, but
they are not necessarily as we describe them.
As presented in the previous chapter, the framework we are developing is
grounded on individual properties, such as lengths and reading comprehension abilities, which we take to be universal entities (see Sect. 5.3.2) that can be identified as
properties of objects, such as the lengths of given rods and the reading comprehension abilities of given individuals.
1
A basic relation of the framework is then
a
identifies an
property of an object
individual property
1 In the case of quantities, it might be that individual quantities are those entities sometimes called
“magnitudes”. On the other hand, the concept is used in radically different ways:
quantities are magnitudes but also have magnitudes, as in the current edition of the VIM, which
defines as follows: “property of a phenomenon, body, or substance, where the property
has a magnitude that can be expressed as a number and a reference” (JCGM, 2012: 1.1). Given this
confusion, and the fact that measurement results can be, and usually are, reported without reference to magnitudes, we avoid including in the ontology we are presenting here (for
an analysis of the relations between and see Mari & Giordani, 2012:
pp. 761–763).
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
L. Mari et al., Measurement across the Sciences, Springer Series in
Measurement Science and Technology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65558-7_6
Chapter 6
Values, scales, and the existence
of properties
6.1 Introduction
We have proposed that properties of objects are associated with modes of empirical
interaction of objects with their environments, with the acknowledgment that this
interaction makes objects experimentally comparable with one another. Thus we
ground our framework upon the assumption that through properties we account for
the relational behavior of objects. As already mentioned, this does not mean that we
consider a property to exist only if an interaction is observed: our position is simply
that observed interactions among objects can be accounted for in terms of their
properties. We also accept that the description of an interaction among objects in
terms of given properties is always revisable: there must be properties there, but
they are not necessarily as we describe them.
As presented in the previous chapter, the framework we are developing is
grounded on individual properties, such as lengths and reading comprehension abilities, which we take to be universal entities (see Sect. 5.3.2) that can be identified as
properties of objects, such as the lengths of given rods and the reading comprehension abilities of given individuals.
1
A basic relation of the framework is then
a
identifies an
property of an object
individual property
1 In the case of quantities, it might be that individual quantities are those entities sometimes called
“magnitudes”. On the other hand, the concept
quantities are magnitudes but also have magnitudes, as in the current edition of the VIM, which
defines
has a magnitude that can be expressed as a number and a reference” (JCGM, 2012: 1.1). Given this
confusion, and the fact that measurement results can be, and usually are, reported without reference to magnitudes, we avoid including
an analysis of the relations between
pp. 761–763).