Quality (philosophy) facts for kids

A quality is a feature or characteristic of something. In philosophy, people often discuss what qualities are and how to tell different kinds of qualities apart.

Thinking About Qualities Through History

Long ago, a famous Greek thinker named Aristotle studied qualities. He noticed that a single thing or person could have different qualities at different times. For example, the same person could be warm one moment and cold the next. Aristotle believed that things could change their qualities while still being the same thing.

Later, a philosopher named John Locke came up with a different idea about qualities. He divided them into two main types:

• Primary qualities are features that an object has by itself, no matter who is looking at it. These are things like an object's size, shape, or how solid it is. For example, a ball is round and has a certain size, whether you see it or not.
• Secondary qualities are features that depend on how we sense them or how they appear to us. These include things like color, taste, smell, or sound. For instance, the color of an apple might look different in bright light compared to dim light. A shadow is another example; it needs light to be seen.

Locke's idea helps us understand that some qualities are part of the object itself, while others are how our senses or the environment make us experience the object.

What "Quality" Can Mean

The word "quality" can be used in a few different ways.

Quality as a Feature

Sometimes, "quality" just means a specific feature or characteristic of something. For example, you might say, "The addictive quality of sugar makes people want more." Here, "addictive quality" means the specific characteristic of sugar that makes it addictive.

Quality as Excellence

Often, when people say "quality," they mean how good something is. If someone talks about a "quality product" or "high-quality work," they mean something that is very good or excellent. This is like saying a new video game has "great quality" because it's fun and well-made.

Different Views on Quality

Philosophers and everyday people think about qualities in different ways.

• Some see qualities as being about subjective feelings. This means they depend on what a person feels or thinks. For example, whether a song is "good quality" might depend on if you like it.
• Others see qualities as objective facts. This means they are true about the object itself, no matter what anyone thinks. For example, the weight of a book is an objective quality.

A writer named Robert M. Pirsig explored the idea of quality in his book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. He thought deeply about what quality truly means and how it connects to everything around us.

In simple terms, quality can be:

• All the features of an object, system, or process (like describing all the parts of a bicycle).
• How good those features are (like saying a bicycle is "high quality" because it rides smoothly).
• The individual values that guide actions and their results (like a company having "quality standards" for making bicycles).

For example, when talking about wine, "quality" can describe its chemical parts and how it tastes (which is subjective). It can also describe how good the process of making the wine was. When we say "quality wine," we mean it's excellent.

See also

• Similarity (philosophy)