Abstract. Taking for granted an ontological standpoint independent of any empirical or epistemological perspective, philosophical theories of properties are actually quite rarely adopted in the knowledge representation community. The theory of qualities introduced in the DOLCE-CORE ontology [4] allows for representing different viewpoints on the world in a unified framework but it does not refer to any process used in empirical or epistemic investigations. In this paper, I will found the theory of qualities on the measurement theory proposed in [8]. In this new perspective, the stability of properties is not assumed a priori but it is founded on the stability of specific (physical) objects: the measurement systems and standards. Keywords. ontology, theory of properties, theory of qualities, measurement, empirical and epistemic foundations