Sir Francis Galton singlehandedly instigated the navigational settings for the discipline of psychometrics by presupposing that mental attributes are measurable. In turn, this presupposition became the defining pillar of the psychometric paradigm. There were no scientifically sound reasons for adopting this presupposition and those Galton gave beg the question every time. So, what drove him to endorse this presupposition? Two considerations steered him in this direction: first, his Pythagorean philosophy of science according to which measurement is a necessary feature; and second, his desire to present eugenics as a science, which, given his Pythagorean vision, entailed that eugenics must involve measurement of relevant mental attributes. The quantitative presupposition guiding psychometrics throughout its history was, therefore, a spin-off from Galton’s marketing strategy for the pseudoscience of eugenics.

弗朗西斯·高尔顿爵士 (Sir Francis Galton) 以心理属性是可测量的为前提，一手促成了心理测量学学科的导航设置。反过来，这个预设成为心理测量范式的决定性支柱。采用这种假设没有科学合理的理由，而高尔顿每次都提出这个问题。那么，是什么驱使他赞同这个预设呢？有两个考虑将他引向这个方向：第一，他的毕达哥拉斯科学哲学认为测量是一个必要特征；其次，他希望将优生学呈现为一门科学，鉴于他的毕达哥拉斯观点，这意味着优生学必须涉及对相关心理属性的测量。因此，贯穿其整个历史的指导心理测量学的定量预设是，