Full Idea
We focus on diagnostic features of real patterns that we can treat as 'core', which reliably predict that our attention is still tracking the same real pattern. These are Locke's 'essence of particulars', or Putnam's 'hidden structures'.
Gist of Idea
We treat the core of a pattern as an essence, in order to keep track of it
Source
J Ladyman / D Ross (Every Thing Must Go [2007], 4.5)
Book Reference
Ladyman,J/Ross,D: 'Every Thing Must Go' [OUP 2007], p.241
A Reaction
They seemed to be ashamed of themselves for proposing this, and call it a 'second-best' epistemological device. They seem to imply that they are useful fictions, but why shouldn't the hidden structures be real? They might both identify and explain.