Essence - Wikipedia Essence From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Part of a series on Philosophy Plato Kant Nietzsche Buddha Confucius Averroes Branches Aesthetics Epistemology Ethics Legal philosophy Logic Metaphysics Philosophy of language Philosophy of mind Philosophy of science Political philosophy Social philosophy Periods Ancient Pre-Socratic Hellenistic Medieval Modern Early modern Late modern Contemporary Traditions Analytic Neopositivism Ordinary language Continental Existentialism Phenomenology Pragmatism Skepticism Traditions by region African Eastern Chinese Indian Middle-Eastern Egyptian Iranian Western Traditions by school Aristotelian Augustinian Averroist Avicennist Hegelian Kantian Occamist Platonist Neoplatonist Scotist Thomist Traditions by religion Buddhist Christian Humanist Hindu Jain Jewish Judeo-Islamic Islamic Early Islamic Illuminationist Sufi Literature Aesthetics Epistemology Ethics Logic Metaphysics Political philosophy Philosophers Aestheticians Epistemologists Ethicists Logicians Metaphysicians Social and political philosophers Lists Index Outline Years Problems Publications Theories Glossary Philosophers Miscellaneous Philosopher Wisdom Women in philosophy  Philosophy portal v t e For other uses, see Essence (disambiguation). Essence (Latin: essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for 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),[1] who used the Greek expression to ti ên einai (τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι,[2] 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,[3] 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).[4] In the history of Western philosophy, 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. Contents 1 Etymology 2 Philosophy 2.1 Ontological status 2.2 Existentialism 2.3 In metaphysics 2.4 Marxism's essentialism 3 Religion 3.1 Buddhism 3.2 Hinduism 4 See also 5 References 6 Sources 7 External links Etymology[edit] The English word essence comes from Latin essentia, via French essence. The original Latin word was created purposefully, by Ancient Roman philosophers, in order to provide an adequate Latin translation for the Greek term οὐσία (ousia). Stoic philosopher Seneca (d. 65 AD) attributed creation of the word to Cicero (d. 43 BC), while rhetor Quintilian (d. 100 AD) claimed that the word was created much earlier, by writer Plautus (184 BC). Early use of the term is also attested in works of Apuleius (d. 170 AD) and Tertullian (d. 240 AD). During Late Antiquity, the term was often used in Christian theology, and through the works of Augustine (d. 430), Boethius (d. 524) and later theologians, who wrote in Medieval Latin, it became the basis for consequent creation of derived terms in many languages.[5] Philosophy[edit] Ontological status[edit] 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.[6] 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.[7] 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[edit] Main article: Meaning (existential) 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.[8] In metaphysics[edit] "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[edit] 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.[citation needed] 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. Religion[edit] Part of a series on the Philosophy of religion Religious concepts Afterlife Apophatism Cataphatism Eschatology Enlightenment Intelligent design Miracle Mysticism Religious belief Reincarnation Religious faith Scripture (religious text) Soul Spirit Theological veto Challenges Ethical egoism Euthyphro dilemma Logical positivism Religious language Verificationism eschatological Problem of evil Theodicy Augustinian Irenaean Best of all possible worlds Inconsistent triad Natural evil God Conceptions Aristotelian Brahman Demiurge Divinely simple Form of the Good Holy Spirit Maltheist Pandeist Personal Process-theological Summum bonum Supreme Being Unmoved mover Existence Arguments for Beauty Christological Trilemma Resurrection Consciousness Cosmological kalām contingency metaphysical Degree Desire Experience Existential choice Fine-tuned universe Love Miracles Morality Mystical idealism Natural law Necessary existent Seddiqin Nyayakusumanjali Ontological Gödel Modal Anselm Mulla Sadra Spinoza Pascal's wager Reason Reformed Teleological Intelligent design Natural law Watchmaker Junkyard Trademark Transcendental Arguments against 747 gambit Wager Creator of God Evil God Free will Hell Inconsistency Nonbelief Noncognitivism Omnipotence paradox Poor design Russell's teapot By religion Abrahamic Bahá'í Christianity Islam Judaism Mormonism Buddhism Hinduism Jainism Sikhism Wicca Theories of religion Acosmism Agnosticism Animism Antireligion Atheism Creationism Dharmism Deism Divine command theory Dualism Esotericism Exclusivism Existentialism agnostic atheist Christian Feminist Fundamentalism Gnosticism Henotheism Humanism Christian religious secular Inclusivism Monism Monotheism Mysticism Naturalism humanistic metaphysical religious New Age Nondualism Nontheism Pandeism Panentheism Pantheism Perennialism Polytheism Process Spiritualism Shamanism Taoic Theism Transcendentalism Philosophers of religion Atheist / agnostic Epicurus Hume Nietzsche Harris Critchley Singer Quine Dennett Camus Sartre de Beauvoir Russell Mill Marx Lucretius Heraclitus Rand Foucault Searle Goldstein Schopenhauer Drange Draper Kenny Hecht Michael Martin Buddhist Nagarjuna Vasubandhu Buddhaghosa Dignāga Dharmakirti Jayatilleke Premasiri Ñāṇavīra Nakamura Nishitani Nishida Damien Keown David Loy Evan Thompson Smith Westerhoff Garfield Christian Adams Alston Aquinas Augustine Bell Brümmer Burns Caird Craig Dalferth Eliade Evans Gamwell Heidegger Hick Kierkegaard Kretzmann Leftow McCabe McIntyre Merricks Miceli Moser Newman Otto Paley Schaeffer de Silva Smith Stewart Swinburne Taliaferro Tamer Thiselton Ward White Wiebe Wollaston Yandell Islamic al-Amiri al-Attas Averroes Avicenna Badawi Brethren of Purity Damad al-Farabi al-Ghazali Ibn Arabi Ibn Bajjah Ibn Masarra Ibn Miskawayh M. Iqbal al-Kindi Nasr Ramadan al-Razi Sadra al-Shahrastani Shariati Suhrawardi Shaykh Tusi Waliullah Jewish Buber Heschel Maimonides Mendelssohn Schwarzschild Soloveitchik Spinoza Hindu Adi Shankara Ramanuja Madhvacharya Udayana Kumārila Bhaṭṭa Vācaspati Miśra Jayanta Bhatta Abhinavagupta Raghunatha Siromani Sri Aurobindo Ramana Maharshi J. Krishnamurti Radhakrishnan BK Matilal KC Bhattacharya Others Almaas Anderson Emmet Esaulov Ferré Forman Glogau Hartshorne Hatano Hatcher Klostermaier Kvanvig Martinich Meltzer Runzo Smart Vallicella Zank Zimmerman Related topics Criticism of religion Ethics in religion Exegesis Faith and rationality History of religions Religion and science Religious philosophy Theology Philosophy of religion article index v t e Buddhism[edit] 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. — Bodhisattvayogacaryācatuḥśatakaṭikā 256.1.7[9] 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. — Buddhapālita-mula-madhyamaka-vrtti, P5242, 73.5.6-74.1.2[9] 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[edit] 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).[10] See also[edit] Avicenna Essentialism Hypokeimenon Modal logic Phenomenon Physical ontology Smarana Theory of forms Transubstantiation References[edit] ^ "The Internet Classics Archive | Euthyphro by Plato". classics.mit.edu. Retrieved 12 June 2018. ^ Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1029b ^ Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1030a ^ S. Marc Cohen, "Aristotle's Metaphysics", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, accessed 20 April 2008. ^ Brown 1996, p. 275-276. ^ "Chapter 28: Form" of The Great Ideas: A Synopticon of Great Books of the Western World (Vol. II). Encyclopædia Britannica (1952), p. 526-542. This source states that Form or Idea get capitalized according to this convention when they refer "to that which is separate from the characteristics of material things and from the ideas in our mind." ^ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/real-essence/ ^ The Story of Philosophy, Bryan Magee, Dorling Kindersley Lond. 1998, ISBN 0-7513-0590-1 ^ a b Translations from "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path of Enlightenment", Vol. 3 by Tsong-Kha-Pa, Snow Lion Publications ISBN 1-55939-166-9 ^ Prasadkaipa.com Sources[edit] Athanasopoulos, Constantinos; Schneider, Christoph, eds. (2013). Divine Essence and Divine Energies: Ecumenical Reflections on the Presence of God. Cambridge, UK: James Clarke & Co. Aveling, Francis (1909). "Essence and Existence". The Catholic Encyclopedia. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Brown, Stephen F. (1996). "Theology and Philosophy". Medieval Latin: An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide. Washington, D.C.: CUA Press. pp. 267–287. Weedman, Mark (2007). The Trinitarian Theology of Hilary of Poitiers. Leiden-Boston: Brill. External links[edit] Wikiquote has quotations related to: Essence 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. (ed.). 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Related topics Axiology Cosmology Epistemology Feminist metaphysics Interpretations of quantum mechanics Mereology Meta- Ontology Philosophy of mind Philosophy of psychology Philosophy of self Philosophy of space and time Teleology Theoretical physics Category  Philosophy portal Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Essence&oldid=987936127" Categories: Modal logic Aristotle Essentialism Concepts in metaphysics Philosophy of life Madhyamaka Hidden categories: Articles containing Latin-language text All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from January 2016 Use dmy dates from March 2017 Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikiquote Languages العربية Azərbaycanca Català Чӑвашла Čeština Corsu Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Galego 한국어 हिन्दी Hrvatski Ido Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano עברית Latina Lietuvių Magyar Nederlands 日本語 پښتو Polski Português Română Русский Shqip Slovenčina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Tagalog ไทย Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 10 November 2020, at 03:03 (UTC). 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