Kid A In Alphabet Land/Qua
Qua
Kid A In Alphabet Land Questions the Qua!
Qua isolates a function from substance. To speak of something *qua* something else is to suspend what it is and attend only to the role it plays in a given structure.
In psychoanalytic discourse, this logical operation allows concepts to be treated independently of their empirical manifestations. What matters is not the thing itself, but the position it occupies within a system of relations.
The *qua* therefore introduces precision by subtraction. It narrows focus while revealing how meaning depends on context and function rather than essence.
Within Kid A In Alphabet Land, the Qua sharpens Kid A’s attention. Things no longer appear as wholes, but as operators—defined by what they do rather than what they are.