The Essence of Anti-Essentialism

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Author(s) / Creator(s)
- Koslicki, Kathrin
SSHRC Awarded IG 2018: Essences have traditionally been assigned important but controversial explanatory roles in philosophical, scientific and social theorizing. For example, why is it possible for one and the same organism to be first a caterpillar and then a butterfly? Why is it impossible for a human being to undergo the sort of transformation we encounter in Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis? Why is it possible for someone to self-identify as a man while at the same time possessing distinctively female sexual organs? And yet why is it controversial but perhaps possible for someone to self-identify as African American while having the features and parentage of, say, a Caucasian? Our project investigates the nature of what is considered essential in the face of multiple, popular anti-essentialist platforms. The primary objective is a defense of the doctrine of essentialism that can withstand objections that have been levelled against it from a variety of sources.
Date created

2017-10-14
Subjects / Keywords
Type of Item

Research Material
DOI

https://doi.org/10.7939/R3804Z12V