Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998
Causality Questions
Thomas M. Miovas, Jr.
>"That aspect of an entity's identity which accounts for the
entity's
>properties and actions" is, if anything, a definition of its
essence. An
>essence is causally fundamental, but it is not the only cause
that operates
>on an entity.
I only recently signed onto the HBL list, so I don't have the
full context of this thread. However, I have to take issue with
the terminology in the above paragraph. The implication of "a
definition of its essence" is that "essence" is a metaphysical
term. This is true for Aristotle's philosophy, but not for
Objectivism. In Objectivism, "essence" is an epistemological
term. An entity has no essence -- it simply is what it is.
"Essence" refers to integrating things (or aspects of things)
together according to similarities, generally leading to a
definition. Perhaps this is what was meant by the poster.
