more on this theme     |     more from this thinker

Single Idea 13952

[filed under theme 9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 7. Essence and Necessity / a. Essence as necessary properties ]

Full Idea

Essentialism, as I shall understand it, is the doctrine that among the attributes of a thing some are essential, others merely accidental. Its essential attributes are those it has necessarily, those it could not have lacked.

Gist of Idea

Essentialism says some of a thing's properties are necessary, and could not be absent

Source

Richard Cartwright (Some Remarks on Essentialism [1968], p.149)

Book Ref

Cartwright,Richard: 'Philosophical Essays' [MIT 1987], p.149

A Reaction

The problem with this, which Cartwright does not address, is that trivial and gerrymandered properties (such as having self-identity, or being 'such that 2+2=4') seem to be necessarily, but don't seem to constitute the essence of a thing.

The 4 ideas from 'Some Remarks on Essentialism'

13952 Essentialism says some of a thing's properties are necessary, and could not be absent [Cartwright,R]
13953 An act of ostension doesn't seem to need a 'sort' of thing, even of a very broad kind [Cartwright,R]
13954 The difficulty in essentialism is deciding the grounds for rating an attribute as essential [Cartwright,R]
13955 Essentialism is said to be unintelligible, because relative, if necessary truths are all analytic [Cartwright,R]