Meinong Epistemologist of Measurement

Abstract

Contemporary theories of measurement seem to have almost forgotten the epistemological questions linked to the psychological aspects of measurement. Indeed, the received approaches, i.e. the representational theory of measurement and the model-based account, are well developed from the mathematical and operational points of view; however, they do not consider sufficiently the reliability of the perceptual impressions involved in any measurement. In contrast, Gustav Theodor Fechner, one of the fathers of modern experimental psychology, addresses this question at length. His work stimulated an epistemological analysis of the quantification of qualities - a process necessary for empirical science - in an almost forgotten paper by Meinong. I present Meinong’s approach in much greater historical and epistemological detail than has been done in the literature thus far. Moreover, I show how Meinong’s approach can fruitfully enrich the received view on measurement theory.