In philosophy, essence is the property or
set of properties that make an entity or substance
what it fundamentally is, and which it has
by necessity, and without which it loses its
identity.
Essence is contrasted with accident: a property
that the entity or substance has contingently,
without which the substance can still retain
its identity.
The concept originates rigorously with Aristotle
(although it can also be found in Plato),
who used the Greek expression to ti ên einai
(τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι, literally meaning
"the what it was to be" and corresponding
to the scholastic term quiddity) or sometimes
the shorter phrase to ti esti (τὸ τί
ἐστι, literally meaning "the what it
is" and corresponding to the scholastic term
haecceity) for the same idea.
This phrase presented such difficulties for
its Latin translators that they coined the
word essentia (English "essence") to represent
the whole expression.
For Aristotle and his scholastic followers,
the notion of essence is closely linked to
that of definition (ὁρισμός horismos).In
the history of western thought, essence has
often served as a vehicle for doctrines that
tend to individuate different forms of existence
as well as different identity conditions for
objects and properties; in this logical meaning,
the concept has given a strong theoretical
and common-sense basis to the whole family
of logical theories based on the "possible
worlds" analogy set up by Leibniz and developed
in the intensional logic from Carnap to Kripke,
which was later challenged by "extensionalist"
philosophers such as Quine.
== Ontological status ==
In his dialogues Plato suggests that concrete
beings acquire their essence through their
relations to "Forms"—abstract universals
logically or ontologically separate from the
objects of sense perception.
These Forms are often put forth as the models
or paradigms of which sensible things are
"copies".
When used in this sense, the word form is
often capitalized.
Sensible bodies are in constant flux and imperfect
and hence, by Plato's reckoning, less real
than the Forms which are eternal, unchanging
and complete.
Typical examples of Forms given by Plato are
largeness, smallness, equality, unity, goodness,
beauty and justice.
Aristotle moves the Forms of Plato to the
nucleus of the individual thing, which is
called ousia or substance.
Essence is the ti of the thing, the to ti
en einai.
Essence corresponds to the ousia's definition;
essence is a real and physical aspect of the
ousia (Aristotle, Metaphysics, I).
According to nominalists (Roscelin of Compiègne,
William of Ockham, Bernard of Chartres), universals
aren't concrete entities, just voice's sounds;
there are only individuals: "nam cum habeat
eorum sententia nihil esse praeter individuum
[...]" (Roscelin, De gener.
et spec., 524).
Universals are words that can to call several
individuals; for example the word "homo".
Therefore, a universal is reduced to a sound's
emission (Roscelin, De generibus et speciebus).
John Locke distinguished between "real essences"
and "nominal essences".
Real essences are the thing(s) that makes
a thing a thing, whereas nominal essences
are our conception of what makes a thing a
thing.According to Edmund Husserl essence
is ideal.
However, ideal means that essence is an intentional
object of consciousness.
Essence is interpreted as sense (E. Husserl,
Ideas pertaining to a pure phenomenology and
to a phenomenological philosophy, paragraphs
3 and 4).
== Existentialism ==
Existentialism was coined by Jean-Paul Sartre's
endorsement of Martin Heidegger's statement
that for human beings "existence precedes
essence."
In as much as "essence" is a cornerstone of
all metaphysical philosophy and of Rationalism,
Sartre's statement was a repudiation of the
philosophical system that had come before
him (and, in particular, that of Husserl,
Hegel, and Heidegger).
Instead of "is-ness" generating "actuality,"
he argued that existence and actuality come
first, and the essence is derived afterward.
For Kierkegaard, it is the individual person
who is the supreme moral entity, and the personal,
subjective aspects of human life that are
the most important; also, for Kierkegaard
all of this had religious implications.
== In metaphysics ==
"Essence," in metaphysics, is often synonymous
with the soul, and some existentialists argue
that individuals gain their souls and spirits
after they exist, that they develop their
souls and spirits during their lifetimes.
For Kierkegaard, however, the emphasis was
upon essence as "nature."
For him, there is no such thing as "human
nature" that determines how a human will behave
or what a human will be.
First, he or she exists, and then comes property.
Jean-Paul Sartre's more materialist and skeptical
existentialism furthered this existentialist
tenet by flatly refuting any metaphysical
essence, any soul, and arguing instead that
there is merely existence, with attributes
as essence.
Thus, in existentialist discourse, essence
can refer to physical aspect or property to
the ongoing being of a person (the character
or internally determined goals), or to the
infinite inbound within the human (which can
be lost, can atrophy, or can be developed
into an equal part with the finite), depending
upon the type of existentialist discourse.
== Marxism's essentialism ==
Karl Marx was a follower of Hegel's thought,
and he, too, developed a philosophy in reaction
to his master.
In his early work, Marx used Aristotelian
style teleology and derived a concept of humanity's
essential nature.
Marx's Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts
of 1844 describe a theory of alienation based
on human existence being completely different
from human essence.
Marx said human nature was social, and that
humanity had the distinct essence of free
activity and conscious thought.Some scholars,
such as Philip Kain, have argued that Marx
abandoned the idea of a human essence, but
many other scholars point to Marx's continued
discussion of these ideas despite the decline
of terms such as essence and alienation in
his later work.
== Buddhism ==
Within the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism,
Candrakirti identifies the self as:an essence
of things that does not depend on others;
it is an intrinsic nature.
The non-existence of that is selflessness.
Buddhapālita adds, while commenting on Nagārjuna's
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, What is the reality
of things just as it is?
It is the absence of essence.
Unskilled persons whose eye of intelligence
is obscured by the darkness of delusion conceive
of an essence of things and then generate
attachment and hostility with regard to them.
For the Madhyamaka Buddhists, 'Emptiness'
(also known as Anatta or Anatman) is the strong
assertion that all phenomena are empty of
any essence, and that anti-essentialism lies
at the root of Buddhist praxis and it is the
innate belief in essence that is considered
to be an afflictive obscuration which serves
as the root of all suffering.
However, the Madhyamaka also rejects the tenets
of Idealism, Materialism or Nihilism; instead,
the ideas of truth or existence, along with
any assertions that depend upon them are limited
to their function within the contexts and
conventions that assert them, possibly somewhat
akin to Relativism or Pragmatism.
For the Madhyamaka, replacement paradoxes
such as Ship of Theseus are answered by stating
that the Ship of Theseus remains so (within
the conventions that assert it) until it ceases
to function as the Ship of Theseus.
In Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika Chapter
XV examines essence itself.
== Hinduism ==
In understanding any individual personality,
a distinction is made between one's Swadharma
(essence) and Swabhava (mental habits and
conditionings of ego personality).
Svabhava is the nature of a person, which
is a result of his or her samskaras (impressions
created in the mind due to one's interaction
with the external world).
These samskaras create habits and mental models
and those become our nature.
While there is another kind of svabhava that
is a pure internal quality — smarana — we
are here focusing only on the svabhava that
was created due to samskaras (because to discover
the pure, internal svabhava and smarana, one
should become aware of one's samskaras and
take control over them).
Dharma is derived from the root dhr "to hold."
It is that which holds an entity together.
That is, Dharma is that which gives integrity
to an entity and holds the core quality and
identity (essence), form and function of that
entity.
Dharma is also defined as righteousness and
duty.
To do one's dharma is to be righteous, to
do one's dharma is to do one's duty (express
one's essence).
== See also ==
Avicenna
Essentialism
Hypokeimenon
Modal logic
Phenomenon
Physical ontology
Smarana
Theory of forms
== 
Notes and references ==
== 
External links ==
Maurice De Wulf: "Nominalism, Realism, Conceptualism.",
in: The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Vol. 11.
New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911.
Robertson, Teresa; Atkins, Philip.
"Essential vs. Accidental Properties".
In Zalta, Edward N. Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy.
Essence Cannabis Dispensary
