Single Idea 11871

[catalogued under 9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 8. Essence as Explanatory]

Full Idea

Essences of natural things are not fancified vacuities parading themselves ...as the ultimate explanation of everything that happens in the world. They are natures whose possession is a precondition of their owners being divided from the rest of reality.

Gist of Idea

Essences are not explanations, but individuations

Source

David Wiggins (Sameness and Substance Renewed [2001], 5.2)

Book Reference

Wiggins,David: 'Sameness and Substance Renewed' [CUP 2001], p.143


A Reaction

Thus Wiggins rejects the explanation account of essence, with an assertion of his own (highly implausible) view that essence is about individuation rather than about behaviour. Individuation strikes me as an entirely human activity, and not 'real'.