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Full Idea
Essence is not reducible to explanatory relations, ...and fundamentally the role of essence is not explanatory but constitutive.
Gist of Idea
Essence is not explanatory but constitutive
Source
David S. Oderberg (Real Essentialism [2007], 3.1)
Book Ref
Oderberg,David S.: 'Real Essentialism' [Routledge 2009], p.47
A Reaction
Effectively, this asserts essence as part of 'pure' metaphysics, but I like impure metaphysics, as the best explanation of the things we can know. Hence we can speculate about constitution only by means of explanation. Constitution is active.