Work · Phenomenology & Hermeneutics
On Essence
Develops essence not as a universal definition but as the physical structure of “notes” that makes a reality what it is “de suyo”.
Introduction
“On Essence” appeared in 1962 and was Zubiri’s first large systematic book, after almost two decades of private courses. It takes up the classical question of what makes a thing what it is, but rejects both the Aristotelian answer, essence as the definable “what” of a substance, and the modern one, essence as concept or meaning. For Zubiri essence is a physical moment of the thing itself: the system of constitutive “notes” that make a reality what it is “de suyo”, of its own. Things are not substances that bear properties but structures, and reality as such, not being, is what is first given. The book is technical and demanding and was much discussed in Spain; it prepared the ground for Zubiri’s later theory of sentient intelligence.
Connections
Criticizes
- Metaphysicsc. 340 BCE · Aristotle
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