Full Idea
Experience does not teach us any essences of things.
Gist of Idea
Experience does not teach us any essences of things
Source
Baruch de Spinoza (Letters to De Vries [1664], 1664?)
Book Reference
Spinoza,Benedict de: 'Ethics, Improvement of Understanding, Letters', ed/tr. Elwes,R [Dover 1955], p.316
A Reaction
This, along with Leibniz's claim that experience cannot reveal necessities, may constitute a striking criticism of empiricism, but it invites the obvious reply 'so much the worse for essences'. An essence seems to be a theoretical concept, not a priori.