263
unit, 22
value of a property, 23
value of a quantity, 24
Concept System
1. Object (2.2): Together with property, this is such a fundamental concept that
we only propose their inter-characterization: an object is an entity that has properties. Hence physical bodies, events, phenomena, processes, individuals, organizations, etc. are all examples of objects. Sets of objects are considered to be
objects.
Any object is characterized as distinct and identified with respect to a context/
environment [the VIM takes this concept as primitive, and sometimes uses the
phrase “phenomenon, body, or substance” (e.g., in [1.1]) for it].
2. Property (2.1): Together with object, this is such a fundamental concept that
we only propose their inter-characterization: a property is an entity that an
object may have, and that is associated with a mode of empirical interaction of
the object with its context/environment. A relation that applies to a set of objects
is a property of that set, considered as an object. For example, a relation of order
is a property that pairs of objects may have.
A basic ontic distinction is between general properties and individual properties, such as length and any given length, respectively
1
[the VIM takes this concept as primitive].
Figure A.1 summarizes the key entities related to and their relations, as interpreted in this book.
3. General property, property in the general sense, kind of property, property
(2.2): An entity such as length, mass, shape, reading comprehension ability,
socioeconomic status, and perceived quality. Any property under measurement
is an individual property that is an instance of a general property. Two individual properties that are instances of the same general property are said to be “of
the same kind”.
1 A justification of the choice of the adjectives “general” vs. “individual” as applied to properties is
as follows:
– is the opposite of , and in our case applies to properties (e.g., shape is a
general property and a given shape, such as the shape of a given object, is an individual
property).
– is the opposite of , and applies to concepts (e.g., is more specific than , in the sense that all quantities are properties, but there are properties that
are not quantities).
– is opposite to , in our case referring to the ontological issue of whether
an individual property cannot or can be shared by different objects, as discussed in Chap. 5.
– is opposite to , an even more complex and controversial distinction that
we avoid here.
Appendix A: A basic concept system of measurement