The Mathematizable Properties of Human Bodies in Relation to Meillassoux’s Discussion of Primary Qualities

Abstract

One of the goals of Meillassoux's philosophy is to secure the claim that the mathematizable properties of a thing can be thought as real properties of that thing. He explicitly says that he has not accomplished this goal yet. What the claim implies is that those properties remain the same whether there is a subject that thinks of them or not. However, such a goal runs into a series of difficulties which, nonetheless, can be resolved. Specifically, it encounters the difficulty that it is possible to mathematize the properties of non-real entities. A more serious difficulty is represented by the fact that the properties of human bodies, such as weight and height, can be mathematized.