The inherent determination of a thing to become itself, different from other things, corresponding to “quantity”. The quality of a thing is determined by the internal contradictions of the thing. A specific quality is the being itself of a specific thing; quality is immediately identical with the being of a thing. What makes something exist, what makes it itself, and what distinguishes it from other things, is that it has its own qualitative determination. Engels said: “Qualities do not exist but only things with qualities and indeed with infinitely many qualities…”
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