Qualia

By Victor M Fontane

“Qualia" refers to the subjective, conscious aspects of experience, such as the redness of red or the feeling of pain, that are unique to each individual and are a central topic in the philosophy of mind.

In Philosophy:

Definition: Qualia are the individual, subjective, and qualitative properties of conscious experience. They are the "what it's like" aspect of consciousness, such as tasting a specific apple or seeing a particular color. 

Significance: The nature of qualia is a fundamental question in philosophy of mind, as it explores the relationship between physical processes in the brain and subjective conscious experience.

Examples of qualia include the subjective "feel" of experiences like the redness of an apple, the taste of wine, the sensation of pain, the smell of wood smoke, and the feeling of elation. Qualia are the personal, qualitative properties of conscious experience that determine "what it is like" to be undergoing a particular mental state, as opposed to simply knowing the objective facts about it.

First, they are irrevocable: I cannot simply decide to start seeing the sunset as green, or feel pain as if it were an itch; second, qualia do not always produce the same behaviour: given a set of qualia, we can choose from a potentially infinite set of possible behaviors to execute; and third, qualia endure in short-term memory, as opposed to non-conscious brain states involved in the on-line guidance of behavior in real time.