more on this theme | more from this text
Full Idea
By holding that the most unified beings have essences in an unqualified sense, while allowing that other beings have them in a qualified sense - we can think of unity as a matter of degree.
Gist of Idea
If unity is a matter of degree, then essence may also be a matter of degree
Source
Charlotte Witt (Substance and Essence in Aristotle [1989], 4.3)
Book Ref
Witt,Charlotte: 'Substance and Essence in Aristotle' [Cornell 1994], p.121
A Reaction
This is Witt's somewhat unorthodox view of how we should read Aristotle. I am sympathetic, if essences are really explanatory. That means they are unstable, and would indeed be likely to come in degrees.
| 12066 | Aristotelian and Kripkean essentialism are very different theories [Witt] |
| 12067 | An Aristotelian essence is a nonlinguistic correlate of the definition [Witt] |
| 12082 | If unity is a matter of degree, then essence may also be a matter of degree [Witt] |
| 12085 | Reality is directional [Witt] |
| 12089 | Essences mainly explain the existence of unified substance [Witt] |
| 12102 | Essential properties of origin are too radically individual for an Aristotelian essence [Witt] |