more on this theme | more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
A distinctive set of intrinsic properties for a given kind is called a 'real essence'.
Gist of Idea
A real essence is a kind's distinctive properties
Source
Brian Ellis (The Metaphysics of Scientific Realism [2009], 3)
Book Ref
Ellis,Brian: 'The Metaphysics of Scientific Realism' [Acument 2009], p.58
A Reaction
Note that he thinks essence is a set of properties (rather than what gives rise to the properties), and that it is kinds (and not individuals) which have real essences, and that one role of the properties is to be 'distinctive' of the kind. Cf. Oderberg.