| 13296 | The cosmos has two elements - passive matter, and active cause (or reason) which shapes it [Stoic school, by Seneca] |
| 13150 | The motions of the planets could only derive from an intelligent agent [Newton] |
| 12178 | That gravity should be innate and essential to matter is absurd [Newton] |
| 6734 | If properties and qualities arise from an inward essence, we will remain ignorant of nature [Berkeley] |
| 12110 | We can never know origins, purposes or inner natures [Comte] |
| 10246 | The limit of science is isomorphism of theories, with essences a matter of indifference [Weyl] |
| 10931 | We can't say 'necessarily if x is in water then x dissolves' if we can't quantify modally [Quine] |
| 17862 | Essence gives an illusion of understanding [Quine, by Almog] |
| 12179 | Essentialist views of science prevent further questions from being raised [Popper] |
| 5492 | How can essences generate the right powers to vary with distance between objects? [Armstrong] |
| 16547 | H2O isn't necessary, because different laws of nature might affect how O and H combine [Lowe] |
| 12243 | The reductionism found in scientific essentialism is mistaken [Oderberg] |
| 4799 | Dispositional essentialism can't explain its key distinction between essential and non-essential properties [Psillos] |
| 15178 | Can anything in science reveal the necessity of what it discovers? [Sidelle] |
| 15706 | A major objection to real essences is the essentialising of social categories like race, caste and occupation [Gelman] |
| 17864 | Defining an essence comes no where near giving a thing's nature [Almog] |
| 17863 | Essences promise to reveal reality, but actually drive us away from it [Almog] |