Full Idea
One might adopt the view that certain things of our own making, such as clocks, may well be said to have 'essences', viz. their 'purposes', and what makes them serve these purposes.
Gist of Idea
Human artefacts may have essences, in their purposes
Source
Karl Popper (Conjectures and Refutations [1963], 3.3 n17)
Book Reference
Popper,Karl: 'Conjectures and Refutations' [RKP 1965], p.106
A Reaction
This is from one of the arch-opponents of essentialism. Could we take him on a slippery slope into essences for evolved creatures, or their organs? His argument says admitting an essence for a clock prevents using it for another purpose.