Full Idea
Since essences cause the other necessary features of a thing, so definitions, as the linguistic correlates of essences, explain, together with other axioms, the propositions describing those necessary features.
Gist of Idea
Essences cause necessary features, and definitions describe those necessary features
Source
Kathrin Koslicki (Essence, Necessity and Explanation [2012], 13.3.1)
Book Reference
'Contemporary Aristotelian Metaphysics', ed/tr. Tahko,Tuomas [CUP 2012], p.200
A Reaction
This is nice and clear. Definitions are NOT essences - they are the linguistic correlates of essences, and mirror those essences. The necessary features are not the only things needing explanation. That picture is too passive.
Related Idea
Idea 15111 In demonstration, the explanatory order must mirror the causal order of the phenomena [Koslicki]