Full Idea
All that grasping an essence amounts to is understanding a real definition, that is, understanding a special kind of proposition.
Gist of Idea
Grasping an essence is just grasping a real definition
Source
E.J. Lowe (What is the Source of Knowledge of Modal Truths? [2013], 7)
Book Reference
-: 'Mind' [-], p.28
A Reaction
He refuses to 'reify' an essence, and says it is not an entity, so he seems to think that the definition is the essence, but Aristotle and I take the essence to be what is picked out by the correct definition - not the definition itself.
Related Idea
Idea 16548 An essence is what an entity is, revealed by a real definition; this is not an entity in its own right [Lowe]