Essentialism: Difference between revisions

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(Created page with "'''Philosophical essentialism''' is the idea that the nature of things is invariable and constant. ''Essentialism'' posits that one must be able to describe an entity according to that which is required, or essential, to its nature and existence. The bird is perhaps a helpful example. One may ask what is essential to being a bird. Is it flying ability? No, flying is not essential to being a bird because there are certain birds that don’t fly (ostrich, emu, penguin...")
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'''Essentialism''' is traditionally the view that every entity has a set of attributes that are necessary to its identity and function. Essentialism in this sense originates from [[Plato]] and his theory on the "essence" of things.
'''[[Philosophical]] essentialism''' is the idea that the nature of things is invariable and constant. ''Essentialism'' posits that one must be able to describe an entity according to that which is required, or essential, to its nature and existence.


See the article on [[race]] and in particular the section "Definitions of race" regarding the above being one possible way to define races. However, it is not the definition used by scholarly [[race realists]] who have used more "fuzzy" definitions as discussed in the article.
The bird is perhaps a helpful example. One may ask what is essential to being a bird. Is it flying ability? No, flying is not essential to being a bird because there are certain birds that don’t fly (ostrich, emu, penguin, etc.). There are also non-bird creatures that fly (e.g., bats). A flying bird may experience an injury and not be able to fly anymore. Yet it is still a bird. If flying is not essential to being a bird, what is? Here are several aspects of being a bird that are essential: feathers, wings, a beak, no teeth, and bearing young in a hard-shelled egg. There may be other creatures that have one or more of these characteristics, but, for a bird, all of these are essential. If these characteristics are not present, then, whatever we have, it is not a bird.


In a rather different sense, "essentialism" is also a concept in various "post-modernist" and [[Cultural Marxist]] theories. It is in these theories a rather unclear concept that is disliked and criticized, and should possibly be seen as actually referring to disliked and genetically influenced group differences and in particular to disliked and genetically influenced race and sex differences.
[[Category:Definitions]]
 
"Essentialism" in this sense may involve [[straw men]] arguments regarding the role of genetics, such that genetic proponents are falsely claimed to state that genetic factors determine everything, when they instead typically argue that both genetic and environmental factors are important.
 
[[Category:Cultural Marxism]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Race]]

Revision as of 14:38, 18 January 2023

Philosophical essentialism is the idea that the nature of things is invariable and constant. Essentialism posits that one must be able to describe an entity according to that which is required, or essential, to its nature and existence.

The bird is perhaps a helpful example. One may ask what is essential to being a bird. Is it flying ability? No, flying is not essential to being a bird because there are certain birds that don’t fly (ostrich, emu, penguin, etc.). There are also non-bird creatures that fly (e.g., bats). A flying bird may experience an injury and not be able to fly anymore. Yet it is still a bird. If flying is not essential to being a bird, what is? Here are several aspects of being a bird that are essential: feathers, wings, a beak, no teeth, and bearing young in a hard-shelled egg. There may be other creatures that have one or more of these characteristics, but, for a bird, all of these are essential. If these characteristics are not present, then, whatever we have, it is not a bird.

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