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Single Idea 12743

[filed under theme 9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 1. Essences of Objects ]

Full Idea

In a Being one per se a real union is required consisting not in the situation or motion of parts, as in a chain or a house, but in a unique individual principle and subject of attributes and operations, in us a soul and in a body a substantial form.

Gist of Idea

A true being must (unlike a chain) have united parts, with a substantial form as its subject

Source

Gottfried Leibniz (De Mundo Praesenti [1686], A6.4.1506), quoted by Daniel Garber - Leibniz:Body,Substance,Monad 7

Book Ref

Garber,Daniel: 'Leibniz: Body, Substance, Monad' [OUP 2009], p.293


A Reaction

Leibniz is said not to be an essentialist, by making all properties essential, but he is certainly committed to substance, and it sounds like essence here (or one view of essence), when it makes identity possible. This idea is pure Aristotle.


The 27 ideas with the same theme [idea that objects have essences, as well as other features]:

Aristotelian essence underlies behaviour, or underlies definition, or is the source of existence [Aristotle, by Aquinas]
Aristotelian essence is retained with identity through change, and bases our scientific knowledge [Aristotle, by Copi]
Aristotle says changing, material things (and not just universals) have an essence [Aristotle, by Politis]
Are essences actually universals? [Aristotle, by Politis]
It is by having essence that things exist [Aquinas]
The essence of a thing is what is required for it to exist or be conceived [Spinoza]
Particular substances are coexisting ideas that seem to flow from a hidden essence [Locke]
The best I can make of real essence is figure, size and connection of solid parts [Locke]
Real essence is the constitution of the unknown parts of a body which produce its qualities [Locke]
A true being must (unlike a chain) have united parts, with a substantial form as its subject [Leibniz]
Subjects include predicates, so full understanding of subjects reveals all the predicates [Leibniz]
Basic predicates give the complete concept, which then predicts all of the actions [Leibniz]
Essences exist in the divine understanding [Leibniz]
The essence of a circle is the equality of its radii [Leibniz]
Essences are fictions needed for beings who represent things [Nietzsche]
Heidegger seeks a non-traditional concept of essence as 'essential unfolding' [Heidegger, by Polt]
Kripke and others have made essentialism once again respectable [Ellis]
Socrates is a contingent being, but his essence is not; without Socrates, his essence is unexemplified [Plantinga]
Aristotelian essentialism says essences are not relative to specification [Lewis]
Serious essentialism says everything has essences, they're not things, and they ground necessities [Shalkowski]
Can the essence of an object circularly involve itself, or involve another object? [Fine,K]
Essences are real, about being, knowable, definable and classifiable [Oderberg, by PG]
Essentialism is either natural to us, or an accident of our culture, or a necessary result of language [Gelman]
Children's concepts include nonobvious features, like internal parts, functions and causes [Gelman]
In India, upper-castes essentialize caste more than lower-castes do [Gelman]
Essentialism must avoid both reduplication of essences, and multiple occupancy by essences [Mackie,P]
An essence and what merely follow from it are distinct [Koslicki]