Essence
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Essence (
Etymology
The
The concept originates as a precise technical term with Aristotle (although it can also be found in Plato),
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 the stoic philosopher Sergius Plautus (sec. I AD).
Early use of the term is also attested in works of
Thomas Aquinas, in his commentary on De hebdomadibus (Book II) by Boethius, states that in this work the distinction between essence (id quod est, what the thing is) and Being (esse) was introduced for the first time. Whereas the Being participated in entities is infinite and infinitely perfect, the essence — and not the matter — delimits the perfection of the Being in entities and makes them finite.[6]
Philosophy
Ontological status
In his dialogues
According to
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.[9]
According to Edmund Husserl essence is ideal. However, ideal means that essence is an intentional object of consciousness. Essence is interpreted as sense.[10]
Existentialism
Existentialism is often summed up by Jean-Paul Sartre's statement that for human beings "existence precedes essence", which he understood as a repudiation of the philosophical system that had come before him. Instead of "is-ness" generating "actuality," he argued that existence and actuality come first, and the essence is derived afterward.
In this respect he breaks with Søren Kierkegaard, who, although often described as a proto-existentialist, identified 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:
- a physical aspect or property;
- the ongoing being of a person (the character or internally determined goals); or
- 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.
Religion
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Buddhism
Within the
For the
- all phenomena are empty of any essence;
- 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
In
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 –
See also
References
- ^ "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.
- ISBN 978-88-5545-053-9.
- ^ Roscelin, De gener. et spec., 524.
- ^ Roscelin, De generibus et speciebus.
- ^ Locke on Real Essence. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. 2022.
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ignored (help) - ^ E. Husserl, Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, paragraphs 3 and 4.
- ISBN 1-55939-166-9
- ^ Buddhapālita-mula-madhyamaka-vrtti, P5242, 73.5.6-74.1.2
- ^ Prasadkaipa.com
Sources
- Athanasopoulos, Constantinos; Schneider, Christoph, eds. (2013). Divine Essence and Divine Energies: Ecumenical Reflections on the Presence of God. Cambridge, UK: James Clarke & Co. ISBN 9780227900086.
- Aveling, Francis (1909). "Essence and Existence". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 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. ISBN 9780813208428.
- Weedman, Mark (2007). The Trinitarian Theology of Hilary of Poitiers. Leiden-Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-9004162242.
External links
- The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911.
- Robertson, Teresa; Atkins, Philip. "Essential vs. Accidental Properties". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.