Inphilosophy, aquality is an attribute or aproperty characteristic of anobject.[1] Incontemporary philosophy theidea of qualities, and especially how to distinguish certain kinds of qualities from one another, remains controversial.[1]
Aristotle analyzed qualities in hislogical work, theCategories. To him, qualities arehylomorphically–formal attributes, such as "white" or "grammatical". Categories ofstate, such as "shod" and "armed" are also non–essential qualities(katà symbebekós).[2] Aristotle observed: "one and the selfsame substance, while retaining its identity, is yet capable of admitting contrary qualities. The same individual person is at one time white, at another black, at one time warm, at another cold, at one time good, at another bad. This capacity is found nowhere else... it is the peculiar mark of substance that it should be capable of admitting contrary qualities; for it is by itself changing that it does so".[3] Aristotle described four types of qualitative opposites:correlatives,contraries,privatives andpositives.[4]
John Locke presented a distinction between primary and secondary qualities inAn Essay Concerning Human Understanding. For Locke, a quality is anidea of asensation or aperception. Locke further asserts that qualities can be divided in two kinds: primary and secondary qualities.Primary qualities areintrinsic to an object—a thing or a person—whereassecondary qualities are dependent on the interpretation of the subjective mode and the context of appearance.[1] For example, ashadow is a secondary quality. It requires a certainlighting to be applied to an object. For another example, consider themass of an object.Weight is a secondary quality since, as ameasurement of gravitationalforce, it varies depending on thedistance to, and mass of, very massive objects like theEarth, as described byNewton's law. It could be thought that mass is intrinsic to an object, and thus a primary quality. In the context ofrelativity, the idea of mass quantifying an amount ofmatter requires caution. Therelativistic mass varies for variously traveling observers; then there is the idea of rest mass orinvariant mass (the magnitude of theenergy-momentum 4-vector[5]), basically a system's relativistic mass in its ownrest frame of reference. (Note, however, that Aristotle drew a distinction between qualification and quantification; a thing's quality can vary in degree).[6]
Philosophy andcommon sense tend to see qualities asrelated either tosubjectivefeelings or toobjectivefacts. The qualities of something depends on the criteria being applied to and, from aneutral point of view, do not determine its value (thephilosophical value as well aseconomic value). Subjectively, something might begood because it isuseful, because it isbeautiful, or simply because itexists. Determining or finding qualities therefore involvesunderstanding what is useful, what is beautiful and what exists. Commonly,quality can mean degree of excellence, as in, "a quality product" or "work of average quality". It can also refer to a property of something such as "theaddictive quality ofnicotine".[7] In his book,Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,Robert M. Pirsig examines concepts of quality inclassical andromantic, seeking aMetaphysics of Quality and a reconciliation of those views in terms ofnon-dualisticholism.
Quality (Latin: quality, characteristic, property, condition) has three meanings:
a) neutral: the sum of all properties of an object, system or processb) evaluates: the quality of all properties of an object, system or processc) evaluates: the individual values preceding the action and its resultsWith regard to points a) and b), quality is the designation of a perceptible state of systems and their characteristics, which is defined in this state in a certain period of time based on certain properties of the system. Quality could describe a product such as wine and its chemical components and the resulting subjectively assessable taste, as well as the processes of ripening the grape, the production and distribution of the wine, or the process of managing the winery. In the meaning b) one speaks of quality wine or wine with predicate or of excellent management.
With reference to c), quality is the sum of the individual (value) attitudes (properties) of a target-oriented individual. Quality is differentiated by "having" or "being". The aim to which qualitative action is directed towards goals or effects also has fundamental effects on the creation of long-term growing cultural capital and thus on the existence of trust values in a cooperating, stable, and in particular democratic society.[8]
[Regarding]Habits and Dispositions; Natural Capabilities and Incapabilities; Affective Qualities and Affections; andShapes; [...] Ackrill finds Aristotle's division of quality at best unmotivated.
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