secondary quality
Quick Summary
In philosophy, a secondary quality refers to a property perceived through our senses that doesn't accurately represent the object itself. These qualities, such as colors, sounds, tastes, and odors, are believed to exist only in our consciousness, not as inherent characteristics of the object.12
This concept is contrasted with primary qualities, like shape, quantity, and motion, which are considered genuine properties of objects and can be described mathematically. Philosophers like John Locke distinguished between these, suggesting that while primary qualities are objective, secondary qualities are subjective modes of perception induced by an object's primary qualities.21
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epistemologyEpistemology and modern science…and are knowable by mathematics, secondary qualities—such as colour, odour, taste, and sound—exist only in human consciousness and are not part of the objects to which they are normally attributed.
Read More…and are knowable by mathematics, secondary qualities—such as colour, odour, taste, and sound—exist only in human consciousness and are not part of the objects to which they are normally attributed.
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Western philosophyPhilosophy of nature…distinction between “primary” and “secondary” qualities. The former qualities—including shape, extension, and specific gravity—were considered to be part of nature and therefore real. The latter—such as colour, odour, taste, and relative position—were taken to be simply the effect of the motions of physical bodies on perceiving minds and therefore…
Read More…distinction between “primary” and “secondary” qualities. The former qualities—including shape, extension, and specific gravity—were considered to be part of nature and therefore real. The latter—such as colour, odour, taste, and relative position—were taken to be simply the effect of the motions of physical bodies on perceiving minds and therefore…
Read More- Western philosophyReason in Locke and Berkeley
…of physical objects, and “secondary qualities” (such as colour, taste, and smell), which are merely the effects of such real properties on the mind.
Read More…of physical objects, and “secondary qualities” (such as colour, taste, and smell), which are merely the effects of such real properties on the mind.
Read More