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Roxy
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characteristic?? Don't you think they are the same (me & my friends we arguing about this) 
Is there a difference between essence &
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Discussion Overview
The discussion explores the distinction between the concepts of "essence" and "characteristic," examining their meanings and implications in philosophical contexts. Participants engage in a debate about whether these terms are synonymous or if they represent different ideas, touching on historical and contemporary philosophical perspectives.
Discussion Character
- Debate/contested
- Conceptual clarification
- Philosophical reasoning
Main Points Raised
- Some participants argue that "essence" refers to the essential characteristics that define a type of object, while "characteristic" may refer to any attribute of that object.
- One participant suggests that "essence" denotes a set of necessary characteristics for classification, using the example of a rock's defining features.
- Another participant introduces Wittgenstein's idea of "family resemblance," proposing that the essence of something may not be a singular defining trait but rather a collection of similarities among related items.
- There is a suggestion that the term "essence" carries historical baggage from philosophical traditions, which complicates its use in contemporary discussions.
Areas of Agreement / Disagreement
Participants do not reach a consensus on whether "essence" and "characteristic" are the same or different, with multiple competing views presented throughout the discussion.
Contextual Notes
Some assumptions about the definitions of "essence" and "characteristic" remain unexamined, and the discussion does not resolve the implications of historical philosophical contexts on contemporary usage.
- #2
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Roxy said:characteristic?? Don't you think they are the same (me & my friends we arguing about this)
Are you talking about the difference between Universal and Particular? Or is this more a question of whether "essence" (the word) is used in the same way as "important characteristic" in our vocabulary?
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loseyourname
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There's certainly a difference in the way I use the two words. "Essence" is used to denote the set of characteristics that must obtain to qualify any given object as a specific type. For instance, the essence of a rock is that it is a solid, continuous single object composed of mineral conglomerates, most of the time mixtures of ionic compounds, but sometimes single metalloids. Each of those things is a characteristic of a rock, but only the sum total of them make up the rock's "essence." Actually, essence is a term that I generally avoid using if I can, because of the historical association with the "forms" of Plato/Aristotle and the subsequent entanglement with Christian scholasticism.
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Good post, LYN. To add Wittgenstein's perspective (and I don't want to be considered just a Wittgenstein-parrot, but you've already covered my other views fairly well, with your post): The "essence" of something might simply be its family resemblance to other things like it.
Example: The language-games all have some things in common with other language-games, but they don't have one singular thing that is common to all of them. Therefore, the search for an "essence of language", in LYN's framework, would be somewhat futile. However, these similarities that they share among each other make up the "family resemblances" of Wittgenstein's philosophy on language, and can thus be considered something akin to language's "essence".
Example: The language-games all have some things in common with other language-games, but they don't have one singular thing that is common to all of them. Therefore, the search for an "essence of language", in LYN's framework, would be somewhat futile. However, these similarities that they share among each other make up the "family resemblances" of Wittgenstein's philosophy on language, and can thus be considered something akin to language's "essence".