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Essence

January 05, 2023

For other uses, see Essence (disambiguation).

Essence (Latin: essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity. Essence is contrasted with accident: a property that the entity or substance has contingently, without which the substance can still retain its identity.

The concept originates rigorously with Aristotle (although it can also be found in Plato),[1] who used the Greek expression to ti ên einai (τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι,[2] literally meaning "the what it was to be" and corresponding to the scholastic term quiddity) or sometimes the shorter phrase to ti esti (τὸ τί ἐστι,[3] literally meaning "the what it is" and corresponding to the scholastic term haecceity) for the same idea. This phrase presented such difficulties for its Latin translators that they coined the word essentia (English "essence") to represent the whole expression. For Aristotle and his scholastic followers, the notion of essence is closely linked to that of definition (ὁρισμός horismos).[4]

In the history of Western philosophy, essence has often served as a vehicle for doctrines that tend to individuate different forms of existence as well as different identity conditions for objects and properties; in this logical meaning, the concept has given a strong theoretical and common-sense basis to the whole family of logical theories based on the "possible worlds" analogy set up by Leibniz and developed in the intensional logic from Carnap to Kripke, which was later challenged by "extensionalist" philosophers such as Quine.

Etymology

The English word essence comes from Latin essentia, via French essence. The original Latin word was created purposefully, by Ancient Roman philosophers, in order to provide an adequate Latin translation for the Greek term οὐσία (ousia). Stoic philosopher Seneca (d. 65 AD) attributed creation of the word to Cicero (d. 43 BC), while rhetor Quintilian (d. 100 AD) claimed that the word was created much earlier, by writer Plautus (184 BC). Early use of the term is also attested in works of Apuleius (d. 170 AD) and Tertullian (d. 240 AD). During Late Antiquity, the term was often used in Christian theology, and through the works of Augustine (d. 430), Boethius (d. 524) and later theologians, who wrote in Medieval Latin, it became the basis for consequent creation of derived terms in many languages.[5]

Philosophy

Ontological status

In his dialogues Plato suggests that concrete beings acquire their essence through their relations to "Forms"—abstract universals logically or ontologically separate from the objects of sense perception. These Forms are often put forth as the models or paradigms of which sensible things are "copies". When used in this sense, the word form is often capitalized.[6] Sensible bodies are in constant flux and imperfect and hence, by Plato's reckoning, less real than the Forms which are eternal, unchanging and complete. Typical examples of Forms given by Plato are largeness, smallness, equality, unity, goodness, beauty and justice.

Aristotle moves the Forms of Plato to the nucleus of the individual thing, which is called ousia or substance. Essence is the ti of the thing, the to ti en einai. Essence corresponds to the ousia's definition; essence is a real and physical aspect of the ousia (Aristotle, Metaphysics, I).

According to nominalists (Roscelin of Compiègne, William of Ockham, Bernard of Chartres), universals aren't concrete entities, just voice's sounds; there are only individuals: "nam cum habeat eorum sententia nihil esse praeter individuum [...]" (Roscelin, De gener. et spec., 524). Universals are words that can call to several individuals; for example the word "homo". Therefore, a universal is reduced to a sound's emission (Roscelin, De generibus et speciebus).

John Locke distinguished between "real essences" and "nominal essences". Real essences are the thing(s) that makes a thing a thing, whereas nominal essences are our conception of what makes a thing a thing.[7]

According to Edmund Husserl essence is ideal. However, ideal means that essence is an intentional object of consciousness. Essence is interpreted as sense (E. Husserl, Ideas pertaining to a pure phenomenology and to a phenomenological philosophy, paragraphs 3 and 4).

Existentialism

Main article: Meaning (existential)

Existentialism was coined by Jean-Paul Sartre's endorsement of Martin Heidegger's statement that for human beings "existence precedes essence." In as much as "essence" is a cornerstone of all metaphysical philosophy and of Rationalism, Sartre's statement was a repudiation of the philosophical system that had come before him (and, in particular, that of Husserl, Hegel, and Heidegger). Instead of "is-ness" generating "actuality," he argued that existence and actuality come first, and the essence is derived afterward. For Kierkegaard, it is the individual person who is the supreme moral entity, and the personal, subjective aspects of human life that are the most important; also, for Kierkegaard all of this had religious implications.[8]

In metaphysics

"Essence," in metaphysics, is often synonymous with the soul, and some existentialists argue that individuals gain their souls and spirits after they exist, that they develop their souls and spirits during their lifetimes. For Kierkegaard, however, the emphasis was upon essence as "nature." For him, there is no such thing as "human nature" that determines how a human will behave or what a human will be. First, he or she exists, and then comes property. Jean-Paul Sartre's more materialist and skeptical existentialism furthered this existentialist tenet by flatly refuting any metaphysical essence, any soul, and arguing instead that there is merely existence, with attributes as essence.

Thus, in existentialist discourse, essence can refer to:

  • physical aspect or property;
  • the ongoing being of a person (the character or internally determined goals); or
  • the infinite inbound within the human (which can be lost, can atrophy, or can be developed into an equal part with the finite), depending upon the type of existentialist discourse.

Religion

Buddhism

Within the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism, Candrakirti identifies the self as:

an essence of things that does not depend on others; it is an intrinsic nature. The non-existence of that is selflessness.

— Bodhisattvayogacaryācatuḥśatakaṭikā 256.1.7[9]

Buddhapālita adds, while commenting on Nagārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā,

What is the reality of things just as it is? It is the absence of essence. Unskilled persons whose eye of intelligence is obscured by the darkness of delusion conceive of an essence of things and then generate attachment and hostility with regard to them.

— Buddhapālita-mula-madhyamaka-vrtti, P5242, 73.5.6-74.1.2[9]

For the Madhyamaka Buddhists, 'Emptiness' (also known as Anatta or Anatman) is the strong assertion that:

  • all phenomena are empty of any essence;
  • anti-essentialism lies at the root of Buddhist praxis; and
  • it is the innate belief in essence that is considered to be an afflictive obscuration which serves as the root of all suffering.

However, the Madhyamaka also rejects the tenets of Idealism, Materialism or Nihilism; instead, the ideas of truth or existence, along with any assertions that depend upon them, are limited to their function within the contexts and conventions that assert them, possibly somewhat akin to Relativism or Pragmatism. For the Madhyamaka, replacement paradoxes such as Ship of Theseus are answered by stating that the Ship of Theseus remains so (within the conventions that assert it) until it ceases to function as the Ship of Theseus.

In Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika Chapter XV examines essence itself.

Hinduism

In understanding any individual personality, a distinction is made between one's Swadharma (essence) and Swabhava (mental habits and conditionings of ego personality). Svabhava is the nature of a person, which is a result of his or her samskaras (impressions created in the mind due to one's interaction with the external world). These samskaras create habits and mental models and those become our nature. While there is another kind of svabhava that is a pure internal quality – smarana – we are here focusing only on the svabhava that was created due to samskaras (because to discover the pure, internal svabhava and smarana, one should become aware of one's samskaras and take control over them). Dharma is derived from the root dhr "to hold." It is that which holds an entity together. That is, Dharma is that which gives integrity to an entity and holds the core quality and identity (essence), form and function of that entity. Dharma is also defined as righteousness and duty. To do one's dharma is to be righteous, to do one's dharma is to do one's duty (express one's essence).[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Internet Classics Archive | Euthyphro by Plato". classics.mit.edu. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  2. ^ Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1029b
  3. ^ Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1030a
  4. ^ S. Marc Cohen, "Aristotle's Metaphysics", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, accessed 20 April 2008.
  5. ^ Brown 1996, p. 275-276.
  6. ^ "Chapter 28: Form" of The Great Ideas: A Synopticon of Great Books of the Western World (Vol. II). Encyclopædia Britannica (1952), p. 526-542. This source states that Form or Idea get capitalized according to this convention when they refer "to that which is separate from the characteristics of material things and from the ideas in our mind."
  7. ^ "Locke on Real Essence". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  8. ^ The Story of Philosophy, Bryan Magee, Dorling Kindersley Lond. 1998, ISBN 0-7513-0590-1
  9. ^ a b Translations from "The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path of Enlightenment", Vol. 3 by Tsong-Kha-Pa, Snow Lion Publications ISBN 1-55939-166-9
  10. ^ Prasadkaipa.com

Sources

  • Athanasopoulos, Constantinos; Schneider, Christoph, eds. (2013). Divine Essence and Divine Energies: Ecumenical Reflections on the Presence of God. Cambridge, UK: James Clarke & Co. ISBN 9780227900086.
  • Aveling, Francis (1909). "Essence and Existence". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  • Brown, Stephen F. (1996). "Theology and Philosophy". Medieval Latin: An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide. Washington, D.C.: CUA Press. pp. 267–287. ISBN 9780813208428.
  • Weedman, Mark (2007). The Trinitarian Theology of Hilary of Poitiers. Leiden-Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-9004162242.

External links

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Essence.

January 05, 2023
essence, this, article, confusing, unclear, readers, please, help, clarify, article, there, might, discussion, about, this, talk, page, august, 2022, learn, when, remove, this, template, message, other, uses, disambiguation, latin, essentia, polysemic, term, u. This article may be confusing or unclear to readers Please help clarify the article There might be a discussion about this on the talk page August 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message For other uses see Essence disambiguation Essence Latin essentia is a polysemic term used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is and which it has by necessity and without which it loses its identity Essence is contrasted with accident a property that the entity or substance has contingently without which the substance can still retain its identity The concept originates rigorously with Aristotle although it can also be found in Plato 1 who used the Greek expression to ti en einai tὸ ti ἦn eἶnai 2 literally meaning the what it was to be and corresponding to the scholastic term quiddity or sometimes the shorter phrase to ti esti tὸ ti ἐsti 3 literally meaning the what it is and corresponding to the scholastic term haecceity for the same idea This phrase presented such difficulties for its Latin translators that they coined the word essentia English essence to represent the whole expression For Aristotle and his scholastic followers the notion of essence is closely linked to that of definition ὁrismos horismos 4 In the history of Western philosophy essence has often served as a vehicle for doctrines that tend to individuate different forms of existence as well as different identity conditions for objects and properties in this logical meaning the concept has given a strong theoretical and common sense basis to the whole family of logical theories based on the possible worlds analogy set up by Leibniz and developed in the intensional logic from Carnap to Kripke which was later challenged by extensionalist philosophers such as Quine Contents 1 Etymology 2 Philosophy 2 1 Ontological status 2 2 Existentialism 2 3 In metaphysics 3 Religion 3 1 Buddhism 3 2 Hinduism 4 See also 5 References 6 Sources 7 External linksEtymology EditThe English word essence comes from Latin essentia via French essence The original Latin word was created purposefully by Ancient Roman philosophers in order to provide an adequate Latin translation for the Greek term oὐsia ousia Stoic philosopher Seneca d 65 AD attributed creation of the word to Cicero d 43 BC while rhetor Quintilian d 100 AD claimed that the word was created much earlier by writer Plautus 184 BC Early use of the term is also attested in works of Apuleius d 170 AD and Tertullian d 240 AD During Late Antiquity the term was often used in Christian theology and through the works of Augustine d 430 Boethius d 524 and later theologians who wrote in Medieval Latin it became the basis for consequent creation of derived terms in many languages 5 Philosophy EditOntological status Edit In his dialogues Plato suggests that concrete beings acquire their essence through their relations to Forms abstract universals logically or ontologically separate from the objects of sense perception These Forms are often put forth as the models or paradigms of which sensible things are copies When used in this sense the word form is often capitalized 6 Sensible bodies are in constant flux and imperfect and hence by Plato s reckoning less real than the Forms which are eternal unchanging and complete Typical examples of Forms given by Plato are largeness smallness equality unity goodness beauty and justice Aristotle moves the Forms of Plato to the nucleus of the individual thing which is called ousia or substance Essence is the ti of the thing the to ti en einai Essence corresponds to the ousia s definition essence is a real and physical aspect of the ousia Aristotle Metaphysics I According to nominalists Roscelin of Compiegne William of Ockham Bernard of Chartres universals aren t concrete entities just voice s sounds there are only individuals nam cum habeat eorum sententia nihil esse praeter individuum Roscelin De gener et spec 524 Universals are words that can call to several individuals for example the word homo Therefore a universal is reduced to a sound s emission Roscelin De generibus et speciebus John Locke distinguished between real essences and nominal essences Real essences are the thing s that makes a thing a thing whereas nominal essences are our conception of what makes a thing a thing 7 According to Edmund Husserl essence is ideal However ideal means that essence is an intentional object of consciousness Essence is interpreted as sense E Husserl Ideas pertaining to a pure phenomenology and to a phenomenological philosophy paragraphs 3 and 4 Existentialism Edit Main article Meaning existential Existentialism was coined by Jean Paul Sartre s endorsement of Martin Heidegger s statement that for human beings existence precedes essence In as much as essence is a cornerstone of all metaphysical philosophy and of Rationalism Sartre s statement was a repudiation of the philosophical system that had come before him and in particular that of Husserl Hegel and Heidegger Instead of is ness generating actuality he argued that existence and actuality come first and the essence is derived afterward For Kierkegaard it is the individual person who is the supreme moral entity and the personal subjective aspects of human life that are the most important also for Kierkegaard all of this had religious implications 8 In metaphysics Edit Essence in metaphysics is often synonymous with the soul and some existentialists argue that individuals gain their souls and spirits after they exist that they develop their souls and spirits during their lifetimes For Kierkegaard however the emphasis was upon essence as nature For him there is no such thing as human nature that determines how a human will behave or what a human will be First he or she exists and then comes property Jean Paul Sartre s more materialist and skeptical existentialism furthered this existentialist tenet by flatly refuting any metaphysical essence any soul and arguing instead that there is merely existence with attributes as essence Thus in existentialist discourse essence can refer to physical aspect or property the ongoing being of a person the character or internally determined goals or the infinite inbound within the human which can be lost can atrophy or can be developed into an equal part with the finite depending upon the type of existentialist discourse Religion EditBuddhism EditWithin the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism Candrakirti identifies the self as an essence of things that does not depend on others it is an intrinsic nature The non existence of that is selflessness Bodhisattvayogacaryacatuḥsatakaṭika 256 1 7 9 Buddhapalita adds while commenting on Nagarjuna s Mulamadhyamakakarika What is the reality of things just as it is It is the absence of essence Unskilled persons whose eye of intelligence is obscured by the darkness of delusion conceive of an essence of things and then generate attachment and hostility with regard to them Buddhapalita mula madhyamaka vrtti P5242 73 5 6 74 1 2 9 For the Madhyamaka Buddhists Emptiness also known as Anatta or Anatman is the strong assertion that all phenomena are empty of any essence anti essentialism lies at the root of Buddhist praxis and it is the innate belief in essence that is considered to be an afflictive obscuration which serves as the root of all suffering However the Madhyamaka also rejects the tenets of Idealism Materialism or Nihilism instead the ideas of truth or existence along with any assertions that depend upon them are limited to their function within the contexts and conventions that assert them possibly somewhat akin to Relativism or Pragmatism For the Madhyamaka replacement paradoxes such as Ship of Theseus are answered by stating that the Ship of Theseus remains so within the conventions that assert it until it ceases to function as the Ship of Theseus In Nagarjuna s Mulamadhyamakakarika Chapter XV examines essence itself Hinduism Edit In understanding any individual personality a distinction is made between one s Swadharma essence and Swabhava mental habits and conditionings of ego personality Svabhava is the nature of a person which is a result of his or her samskaras impressions created in the mind due to one s interaction with the external world These samskaras create habits and mental models and those become our nature While there is another kind of svabhava that is a pure internal quality smarana we are here focusing only on the svabhava that was created due to samskaras because to discover the pure internal svabhava and smarana one should become aware of one s samskaras and take control over them Dharma is derived from the root dhr to hold It is that which holds an entity together That is Dharma is that which gives integrity to an entity and holds the core quality and identity essence form and function of that entity Dharma is also defined as righteousness and duty To do one s dharma is to be righteous to do one s dharma is to do one s duty express one s essence 10 See also EditAvicenna Essentialism Hypokeimenon Modal logic Phenomenon Physical ontology Quintessence element Smarana Theory of forms TransubstantiationReferences Edit The Internet Classics Archive Euthyphro by Plato classics mit edu Retrieved 12 June 2018 Aristotle Metaphysics 1029b Aristotle Metaphysics 1030a S Marc Cohen Aristotle s Metaphysics Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy accessed 20 April 2008 Brown 1996 p 275 276 Chapter 28 Form of The Great Ideas A Synopticon of Great Books of the Western World Vol II Encyclopaedia Britannica 1952 p 526 542 This source states that Form or Idea get capitalized according to this convention when they refer to that which is separate from the characteristics of material things and from the ideas in our mind Locke on Real Essence Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy The Story of Philosophy Bryan Magee Dorling Kindersley Lond 1998 ISBN 0 7513 0590 1 a b Translations from The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path of Enlightenment Vol 3 by Tsong Kha Pa Snow Lion Publications ISBN 1 55939 166 9 Prasadkaipa comSources EditAthanasopoulos Constantinos Schneider Christoph eds 2013 Divine Essence and Divine Energies Ecumenical Reflections on the Presence of God Cambridge UK James Clarke amp Co ISBN 9780227900086 Aveling Francis 1909 Essence and Existence The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol 5 New York Robert Appleton Company Brown Stephen F 1996 Theology and Philosophy Medieval Latin An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide Washington D C CUA Press pp 267 287 ISBN 9780813208428 Weedman Mark 2007 The Trinitarian Theology of Hilary of Poitiers Leiden Boston Brill ISBN 978 9004162242 External links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to Essence Maurice De Wulf Nominalism Realism Conceptualism in The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol 11 New York Robert Appleton Company 1911 Robertson Teresa Atkins Philip Essential vs Accidental Properties In Zalta Edward N ed Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Essence amp oldid 1125989723, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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