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Single Idea 12306
[filed under theme 9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 13. Nominal Essence
]
Full Idea
Locke was more interested in 'nominal essences'. ...The abstract idea of various particular substances that resemble each other ..determines a sort or a species, the 'nominal essence', for "everything contained in that idea is essential to that sort".
Gist of Idea
'Nominal essence' is everything contained in the idea of a particular sort of thing
Source
report of John Locke (Essay Conc Human Understanding (2nd Ed) [1694]) by Irving M. Copi - Essence and Accident p.712
Book Ref
-: 'Journal of Philosophy' [-], p.712
A Reaction
[He refers us to Locke 'Essay' 3.3, and others] This seems to be the sortals espoused by Wiggins, so is he more of a Lockean than an Aristotelian? He's a slippery fish. Knowing the sort is said by Locke to be the key to knowledge.
The
29 ideas
with the same theme
[essence as derived from experiences of objects]:
16627
|
If you remove the accidents from a horse and a lion, the intellect can't tell them apart
[Francis of Marchia]
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17251
|
The feature which picks out or names a thing is usually called its 'essence'
[Hobbes]
|
16031
|
Real essence explains observable qualities, but not what kind of thing it is
[Locke, by Jones,J-E]
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15646
|
If essence is 'nominal', artificial gold (with its surface features) would qualify as 'gold'
[Locke, by Eagle]
|
12306
|
'Nominal essence' is everything contained in the idea of a particular sort of thing
[Locke, by Copi]
|
15988
|
The observable qualities are never the real essence, since they depend on real essence
[Locke]
|
15644
|
In nominal essence, Locke confuses the set of properties with the abstracted idea of them
[Eagle on Locke]
|
16029
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Locke's real and nominal essence refers back to Aristotle's real and nominal definitions
[Locke, by Jones,J-E]
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12531
|
Nominal Essence is the abstract idea to which a name is attached
[Locke]
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13433
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Essences relate to sorting words; if you replace those with names, essences vanish
[Locke]
|
12533
|
Real essences are unknown, so only the nominal essence connects things to a species
[Locke]
|
12537
|
To be a nominal essence, a complex idea must exhibit unity
[Locke]
|
12557
|
Our ideas of substance are based on mental archetypes, but these come from the world
[Locke]
|
12561
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For 'all gold is malleable' to be necessary, it must be part of gold's nominal essence
[Locke]
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12812
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Things have real essences, but we categorise them according to the ideas we receive
[Locke]
|
12975
|
We have a distinct idea of gold, to define it, but not a perfect idea, to understand it
[Leibniz]
|
12805
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If two people apply a single term to different resemblances, they refer to two different things
[Leibniz]
|
12806
|
Locke needs many instances to show a natural kind, but why not a single instance?
[Leibniz, by Jolley]
|
12308
|
In modern science, nominal essence is intended to be real essence
[Copi]
|
5448
|
'Real essence' makes it what it is; 'nominal essence' makes us categorise it a certain way
[Ellis]
|
11835
|
The nominal essence is the idea behind a name used for sorting
[Wiggins]
|
16510
|
Nominal essences don't fix membership, ignore evolution, and aren't contextual
[Wiggins]
|
7384
|
Words are fixed by being attached to similarity clusters, without mention of 'essences'
[Dennett]
|
14226
|
We distinguish objects by their attributes, not by their essences
[Shalkowski]
|
14951
|
We treat the core of a pattern as an essence, in order to keep track of it
[Ladyman/Ross]
|
15645
|
Nominal essence are the observable properties of things
[Eagle]
|
15642
|
If kinds depend only on what can be observed, many underlying essences might produce the same kind
[Eagle]
|
15643
|
Nominal essence mistakenly gives equal weight to all underlying properties that produce appearances
[Eagle]
|
17869
|
Kripke and Putnam offer an intermediary between real and nominal essences
[Almog]
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