Topology of Quality

Abstract

If we know just which qualia of a given set match, our basic rule will tell us that certain qualia of the set are nearer together than certain others. Our problem then is how to determine which qualia of the set are next to each other. Obviously, this problem is to a large degree independent of the kind of elements to be ordered and of the particular predicate chosen as basic. It may be conceived much more generally as the problem of ordering a finite set of elements of any sort, given certain rather incomplete information about relative distance among them; i.e., that certain pairs are composed of elements that are nearer together than the elements of any remaining pair. For this reason, I have remarked that the problem to be dealt with in this chapter is primarily mathematical; and for this reason also, the calculus of order to be outlined may find uses other than those for which it is introduced here. One might apply it to the problem of ordering properties or any other sort of elements on the basis of an appropriate predicate.