ESSENCE

Essence refers to the fundamental nature or defining qualities of a thing. In classical philosophy, particularly Aristotle, essence is the set of necessary properties that make something the kind of thing it is; without these properties the entity would not be the kind of thing it is. These essential properties are contrasted with accidental properties, which a thing may gain or lose without changing its identity.

Essence has been central to essentialist and teleological claims about natural kinds and the order of reality. In scholastic thought, essence and existence were treated as distinct; in modern philosophy, debates continue over whether essences exist independently of minds or are useful theoretical constructs for organizing experience. Some approaches treat essences as linguistic or pragmatic devices rather than intrinsic features.

Outside philosophy, essence denotes concentrated extracts from plant material used for flavoring or perfumery, such as vanilla essence. Essential oils are a related category of volatile aromatic compounds. In everyday language, the essence of something means its core meaning or most important quality.

See also: essential property, essentialism, essential oil, quintessence.