Essentialism

Essentialism (from Latin essentia "essence" ) is the philosophical view that entities have necessary properties.

Philosophy

Aristotle

In philosophy, essentialism is attributed to Plato and Aristotle. The Aristotelian concept formation was recorded largely by Thomas Aquinas in theology and scholasticism. In terms of Leibniz expressed this doctrine states that there is a necessary and contingent properties of things, regardless of how we conceive or describe things.

Duhem

First, the term essentialism was in 1916 by Duhem ( essentialisme (French ) ) introduced as a philosophical-historical category and referred to him medieval conceptions, according to which the measures provided for the creation of beings plays a timeless, essential existence. Étienne Gilson extended this category and related it to all Western theories " existentia out ontological primacy of essentia before the" from.

Criticism Poppers

For Karl R. Popper essentialism or the " nature philosophy " goes back to the view that a definition can be right or wrong by bringing the "essence" of a concept expression. According to Popper's own definition of teaching definitions are in principle arbitrary because they are based on agreement. All really essential terms of a theory are, therefore, for Popper the undefined basic concepts.

Quine

Because of the " Aristotelian essentialism " said Willard Van Orman Quine to have to reject the quantified modal logic. He had, however, it unclear what position may actually be attributed to Aristotle on this issue. Michael Thomas Liske discussed on the basis of texts of Aristotle, to what extent a kind - essentialism for the identification of individuals could be maintained, and defended against Quine's demand for an exclusive Extensionalitätsbetrachtung: The meaning difference between two extensional equivalent specifications can be scientifically significant because they a different explanatory potential may have.

Social sciences

Within the theory of Social Sciences of the Essentialismusbegiff plays a crucial role in contemporary feminist discussions. There it is increasingly being used by theorists of the "third wave" from about 1990 to challenge a particular conception of femininity identities of the women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s. These theories have another essentialist access to gender differences and the resulting disadvantages for women because they complain a definable universal validity claim, for example, the socio-economic status of women or about seemingly clearly identifiable biological differences for themselves. The justification of feminist theory discussions in a thus constructed ostensibly female labor identity is relativized as ethnocentric, Western and white.