secondary qualities

British  

plural noun

1. (in empiricist philosophy) those properties of objects that are explained in terms of the primary properties of their parts, such as heat in terms of the motion of molecules

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Example Sentences

Secondary qualities are thus intermediate cases, with some basis in the real world: “Colour and also temperature, hot and cold flavor, certain kinds of characterizations of sound, high-pitched and low-pitched in sound, there are a number of these,” Matthen said.

From Salon

If the world was to be reducible to physical causation, then all mental experiences—intention, agency, purpose, meaning—must be secondary qualities, inexplicable within the framework of materialism.

From The New Yorker

Secondary qualities, in contrast, exist only in relation to a perceiver—color is a good example.

From Scientific American

Writing in the 17th century, English philosopher John Locke made an influential distinction between “primary” and “secondary” qualities.

From Scientific American

Secondary qualities, such as “light and colors, sounds, smells, tastes,” and so on, are subjective.

From The New Yorker