In
philosophy, 'essentialism' is the view that, for any specific kind of
entity, there are a set of
characteristics all of which any entity of that kind must have. This view is contrasted with
non-essentialism which states that for any given kind of entity there are no specific traits which entities of that kind must have.
A member of a specific kind of entity may possess other characteristics that are neither needed to establish its membership nor preclude its membership. It should be noted that essences do not simply reflect ways of grouping objects; essences must result in properties of the object.
An ''essence'' characterizes a
substance or a
form, in the sense of the Forms or Ideas in
Platonic idealism. It is permanent, unalterable, and eternal; and present in every possible world. Classical
humanism has an essentialist conception of the human being, which means that it believes in an eternal and unchangeable
human nature. This viewpoint has been criticized by
Marx,
Nietzsche,
Sartre and many modern and
existential thinkers.
Essentialism in philosophy
The definition, in philosophical contexts, of the word "essence" is very close to the definition of
form (Gr. morph). Many definitions of
essence harken back to the ancient Greek
hylomorphic understanding of the formation of the things of this world. According to that account, the structure and real existence of any thing can be understood by analogy to an artifact produced by a craftsman. The craftsman requires ''hyle'' (timber or wood) and a model or plan or idea in his own mind according to which the wood is worked to give it the indicated contour or form (''morphe''). In Plato's philosophy, things were said to come into being in this world by the action of a
demiurge (Gr. demiourgos) who works to form
chaos into ordered entities. (See Plato, ''Timaeus''.) Aristotle was the first to use the terms ''hyle'' and ''morphe''. According to his explanation, all entities have two aspects, "matter" and "form." It is the particular form imposed that gives some matter its identity, its
quiddity or "whatness" (i.e., its "what it is").
Plato was an essentialist since he believed in ideal forms, which are reflected in individual objects. Ideas are eternal. Ideas are superior to material objects. When we see objects in the material world, we understand them through their relationships between them. This belief is clearly manifested in his famous
parable of the cave.
Karl Popper splits the ambiguous term ''
realism'' into ''essentialism'' and ''realism''. He uses ''essentialism'' whenever he means the opposite of
nominalism, and ''realism'' only as opposed to
idealism.
Aristasians
[1] term their philosophy ''feminine essentialism''. It is akin to the philosophies of Plato and the
Traditionalist School but takes a feminist perspective which it holds to be the original human (matriarchal) form.
Essentialism in ethics
Essentialism in ethics is claiming that some things are wrong in an absolute sense, for example murder breaks a universal, objective and natural moral law and not merely an adventitious, socially or ethically constructed one.
Essentialism in biology
It is often held that before
evolution was developed as a
scientific theory, there existed an essentialist view of
biology that posited all
species to be unchanging throughout time. Some religious opponents of
evolution continue to maintain this view of biology (see
creation-evolution controversy).
Recent work by historians of
systematics has, however, cast doubt upon this view. Mary P. Winsor, Ron Amundson and Staffan Müller-Wille have each argued convincingly that in fact the usual suspects (such as
Linnaeus and the
Ideal Morphologists were very far from being essentialists, and it appears that the so-called "essentialism story" (or "myth") in biology is a result of conflating the views expressed by philosophers from
Aristotle onwards through to
John Stuart Mill and
William Whewell in the immediately pre-Darwinian period, using biological examples, with the use of terms in biology like
species[1].
Essentialism and society
Essentialist positions on gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, or other group characteristics, consider these to be fixed traits, while not allowing for variations among individuals or over time. Contemporary proponents of
identity politics, including
feminism,
gay rights, and/or racial equality activists, generally take
constructionist viewpoints, agreeing with
Simone de Beauvoir that "one is not born, but becomes a woman", for example. However, this is a vexed issue. To the extent that essence implies permanence and inalterability, essentialist thinking tends to agree with political
conservatism and mitigate against social change.
But essentialist claims also have provided useful rallying-points for radical politics, including feminist, anti-racist, and anti-colonial struggles. In a culture saturated with essentialist modes of thinking, an ironic or
strategic essentialism can sometimes be politically expedient.
In social thought, essentialism as a metaphysical claim is often
conflated with biological
reductionism. Most sociologists, for example, employ a distinction between biological
sex and
gender role. Similar distinctions across disciplines generally fall under the topic "
nature versus nurture." However, this conflation can be contested. For example,
Monique Wittig has argued that even biological sex is not an essence, and that the body's physiology is caught up in processes of social construction.
[2]
Essentialism in history
Essentialism is used by some historians in listing essential cultural characteristics of a particular nation or culture. A people can be understood in this way. These characteristics have degenerated into clichés serving to justify colonial practices. In other cases, the essentialist method has been used by members, or admirers, of an historical community to establish a praiseworthy national identity.
[3] Opposed to this model of interpretation are historical studies which turn from essences to focus on the particular circumstances of time and place.
See also
★
structuralism
★
Traditionalist School
Contrast with:
constructionism,
poststructuralism,
existentialism,
creolisation
Notes
1. Winsor 2003, Amundson 2005, Mülle-Wille in press
2. Wittig, Monique. 1992. “The Category of Sex.” Pp. 1-8 in The Straight Mind and Other Essays. Boston: Beacon Press
3. Touraj Atabaki, ''Beyond Essentialism: Who Writes Whose Past in the Middle East and Central Asia?'', Inaugural Lecture as Extraordinary Professor of the Social History of the Middle East and Central Asia in the University of Amsterdam, 13 Dec. 2002, [2]
Amundson, R. (2005) ''The changing rule of the embryo in evolutionary biology: structure and synthesis'', New York, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521806992
Mülle-Wille, S. (forthcoming) Collection and Collation: Theory and Practice of Linnaean Botany.
Winsor, M. P. (2003) Non-essentialist methods in pre-Darwinian taxonomy. ''Biology & Philosophy'', 18, 387-400.
Further reading
★ For more information on Essentialism and related topics, see the ''Dictionary of Philosophy'' by Dagobert D. Runes (Littlefield, Adams & Co., 1972). See the articles on essence, page 97, quiddity, p. 262, form,110, hylomorphism, 133, individuation,145, and matter, 191.
★ Barrett, H. C. (2001). On the functional origins of essentialism. ''Mind and Society, 3, Vol. 2'', 1-30.
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