Full Idea
The revival of essentialism owes much to the work of Saul Kripke and Hilary Putnam, who made belief in essences once again respectable, with Harré and Madden arguing that there were real causal powers in nature.
Clarification
For 'essentialism', see under NATURE/LAWS OF NATURE
Gist of Idea
Kripke and others have made essentialism once again respectable
Source
Brian Ellis (The Philosophy of Nature: new essentialism [2002], Intro)
Book Reference
Ellis,Brian: 'The Philosophy of Nature: new essentialism' [Acumen 2002], p.7
A Reaction
It seems to me important to separate two stages of this: 1) causation results from essences, and 2) essences can never change. The first seems persuasive to me. For the second, see METAPHYSICS/IDENTITY/COUNTERPARTS.