Mind: A Brief Introduction (John R. Searle) / quote 77 of 138
Qualia: the qualitative feel of experience
Conscious experiences have a qualitative aspect. There is a qualitative feel to drinking beer, which is quite different from the qualitative feel of listening to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Several philosophers have found it useful to introduce a technical term to describe this qualitative aspect of consciousness. The term for qualitative states is “qualia,” of which the singular is “quale.” Each conscious state is a quale, because there is a certain qualitative feel to each state.