Definition of quale in English:
quale
(also qualia)
nounPlural qualia ˈkweɪliˈkwälē
Philosophy A quality or property as perceived or experienced by a person.
〔哲〕（人感知或体验到的）性质，特性
in a different world, I could have the qualia of ‘red’ when looking at the sky (but would continue to label it as ‘blue’)
Example sentencesExamples
- According to Block, what has remained the same is the qualia of my experience; what has changed is the intentional content.
- Sensory receptors provide information about the quality of the stimuli that they detect, giving rise to what philosophers call the qualia of conscious perceptual experience.
- Nonetheless the type-type identity theory has enjoyed a recent if modest resurgence at least with respect to qualia or qualitative conscious properties.
- The qualia of experience are mediated by linguistic and historical factors, but out-of-the-ordinary or mystical states are beyond mediation in their lack of intentional objects.
- On Ayer's view, quale formed the patterns constituting a primary system, and it was on the basis of this system that we posited the existence of physical objects, this being the ‘theoretical’ secondary system.
Origin
Late 17th century: from Latin, neuter of qualis 'of what kind'.