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Full Idea
With kind essentialism the person assumes that the world is divided up into preexisting natural categories. Individual essentialism seems not to require any such commitment to kind realism.
Gist of Idea
Kind (unlike individual) essentialism assumes preexisting natural categories
Source
Susan A. Gelman (The Essential Child [2003], 06 'Essentialism')
Book Ref
Gelman,Susan A.: 'The Essential Child' [OUP 2005], p.152
A Reaction
This pinpoints my difficulty: how do we decide whether some category or attributed essence is part of a preexisting natural kind? Some natural kinds are self-evident, like water (roughly), but others need subtle teasing out. How is the teasing done?