Attributes

Attributes define properties or qualitative aspects of entities or situations, including measurable properties (size, weight), perceptual qualities (color, texture), and abstract attributes (importance, legality, validity). They are often evoked by adjectives or scalar expressions.

An attribute inheres in an Entity or Situation (Event/State) at a specific point in time or over a duration, but does not inherently imply change or duration itself. Attributes describe what something is like or what characteristics it possesses. Attributes can be predicated of something. Some criteria:

• Inherence: An attribute must inhere in something else (an Entity, Event or State). It cannot exist independently. For instance, 'red' inheres in a 'ball'; 'intensity' inheres in an 'emotion'.
• Lack of Intrinsic Temporal Dynamics: While the value of an attribute can change over time (e.g., something can become 'redder'), the attribute itself (e.g., 'redness') does not unfold or progress through time in the way an event or process does. It is a snapshot-like descriptor.
• Measurability/Gradability (often, but not exclusively): Many attributes are gradable (e.g., 'very hard', 'slightly soft') or measurable (e.g., 'weight', 'temperature'). This is a strong indicator, but not a strict requirement (e.g., 'broken' as a quality might not be easily gradable in all contexts).
• Descriptive Function: Its primary role is to describe an inherent characteristic, property, or attribute of something.

Attributes play a descriptive role and are frequently linked to scenes of evaluation, judgment, or comparison.