What Does Qua Mean?

The word qua has its origin in Latin. It is taken from the word quā. Quā is feminine singular of quī which means who. Qua is used as a preposition. It is generally defined as 'in capacity or character of something'. For example: the President qua chief of the meeting pacified the arguing members. Thus, qua could stand for 'as'. Her, it indicates that the President as the head of the meeting intervened in the argument.

Qua can also mean as being. Another example:  art qua art can be judged only by people possessing an aesthetic frame of mind. It means that art 'as' being art or expressions of the artist can be rated by a one who has some aesthetic sense.