more from this thinker
|
more from this text
Single Idea 16135
[filed under theme 14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / k. Explanations by essence
]
Full Idea
Real enquiries stand revealed as causal enquiries (and the cause is the what-it-was-to-be-that-thing [to ti en einai]).
Gist of Idea
Real enquiries seek causes, and causes are essences
Source
Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1041a28)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Metaphysics', ed/tr. Lawson-Tancred,Hugh [Penguin 1998], p.228
A Reaction
As good a quotation as any for showing that Aristotelian essences exist entirely by their role in explanation.
The
35 ideas
with the same theme
[explaining by showing hidden natures in things]:
16646
|
To understand a triangle summing to two right angles, we need to know the essence of a line
[Aristotle]
|
15119
|
Aristotelian explanation by essence may need to draw on knowledge of other essences
[Aristotle, by Koslicki]
|
11384
|
We know something when we fully know what it is, not just its quality, quantity or location
[Aristotle]
|
16105
|
We know a thing when we grasp its essence
[Aristotle]
|
16135
|
Real enquiries seek causes, and causes are essences
[Aristotle]
|
11296
|
The explanation is what gives matter its state, which is the form, which is the substance
[Aristotle]
|
11999
|
Essential properties explain in conjunction with properties shared by the same kind
[Aristotle, by Kung]
|
22524
|
The nature of each thing is its mature state
[Aristotle]
|
12000
|
Aristotle regularly says that essential properties explain other significant properties
[Aristotle, by Kung]
|
11198
|
Definition of essence makes things understandable
[Aquinas]
|
16784
|
Forms make things distinct and explain the properties, by pure form, or arrangement of parts
[Arnauld,A/Nicole,P]
|
13073
|
To understand the properties we must know the essence, as with a circle
[Spinoza]
|
17026
|
From the phenomena, I can't deduce the reason for the properties of gravity
[Newton]
|
16037
|
Locke seems to use real essence for scientific explanation, and substratum for the being of a thing
[Locke, by Jones,J-E]
|
16032
|
To explain qualities, Locke invokes primary and secondary qualities, not real essences
[Locke, by Jones,J-E]
|
12519
|
Gold is supposed to have a real essence, from whence its detectable properties flow
[Locke]
|
12977
|
We will only connect our various definitions of gold when we understand it more deeply
[Leibniz]
|
12729
|
The cause of a change is not the real influence, but whatever gives a reason for the change
[Leibniz]
|
13089
|
To fully conceive the subject is to explain the resulting predicates and events
[Leibniz]
|
13092
|
The essence of substance is the law of its changes, as in the series of numbers
[Leibniz]
|
13569
|
To give essentialist explanations there have to be natural kinds
[Ellis]
|
15975
|
Can the qualities of a body be split into two groups, where the smaller explains the larger?
[Alexander,P]
|
15219
|
Essence explains passive capacities as well as active powers
[Harré/Madden]
|
11995
|
Some peripheral properties are explained by essential ones, but don't themselves explain properties
[Kung]
|
11996
|
Some non-essential properties may explain more than essential-but-peripheral ones do
[Kung]
|
11848
|
Asking 'what is it?' nicely points us to the persistence of a continuing entity
[Wiggins]
|
12064
|
The category of substance is more important for epistemology than for ontology
[Wiggins]
|
12049
|
Naming the secondary substance provides a mass of general information
[Wiggins]
|
14322
|
If fragile just means 'breaks when dropped', it won't explain a breakage
[Mumford]
|
17481
|
Nuclear charge (plus laws) explains electron structure and spectrum, but not vice versa
[Hendry]
|
11905
|
Locke's kind essences are explanatory, without being necessary to the kind
[Mackie,P]
|
15114
|
Discovering the Aristotelian essence of thunder will tell us why thunder occurs
[Koslicki]
|
15710
|
Bohr explained the periodic table and chemical properties of elements, using the quantum atom
[Kumar]
|
16783
|
Essences must explain, so we can infer them causally from the accidents
[Pasnau]
|
16975
|
Essences are used to explain natural kinds, modality, and causal powers
[Tahko]
|