Essentialism is the view that some things have essences - a nature which makes them what they are, and without which they would not exist. Essentialism has a long philosophical history, going back at least to Aristotle, who thought that a thing's species was always part of its essence (so that we, for instance, are essentially human). Essentialism has an almost equally long philosophical history of dissenters, many of them working within an empiricist framework, or objecting to some of its social-political uses. It may be surprising, then, that essentialism has recently had a revival and is discussed as a serious contender in many areas of analytical philosophy (which has a decidedly empiricist history), from metaphysics through the philosophy of science to feminist philosophy. In this seminar, we will be looking at some of the important texts for today's debates on essence and essentialism. In view of the current conditions, the seminar will be conducted entirely online (mostly through videoconference) and will try out some new formats. Rather than holding a weekly discussion with the entire class (which we expect to be difficult online), we will proceed in two stages: first, we lay the foundations for the topic in a few lecture-oriented meetings; then, we work in smaller groups that have more in-depth online discussions with and without the instructor. At the first stage, we will read and discuss core texts – two from the history of philosophy, two from contemporary philosophy, and one overview article. Students will submit questions on the reading of the week online; the seminar itself will consist in a short lecture, which provides an overview on the context and content of the reading and takes up the submitted questions, followed by the opportunity for questions and discussion. At the second stage, the seminar will split into small groups (ideally about 3-4 students). Each group will be assigned a specific topic, including: recent work on the metaphysics of essence; essentialism in the philosophy of science; and essentialism in social philosophy (including feminist philosophy). Students will write short essays on the topic of their group. Discussion within the group is encouraged, and the instructor will be available for questions on the essays during the regular class hours. Upon submitting the essays, each group will then have a 90-minutes session with the instructor, in which their essays are discussed in detail. Finally, in another meeting with all participants, each group will present its readings and the discussion that emerged from the essays to the other participants of the seminar. close

Recommended introductory/overview reading: • Sonia Roca Royes, Essentialism and Individual Essences, Philososophy Compass 2011, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1747-9991.2010.00364.x (accessible with FU VPN client, and soon through Blackboard) Core reading for the seminar will include extracts from the Aristotelian tradition, from John Locke's Essay concerning human understanding, and from Saul Kripke's 1980 book Naming and Necessity, as well as Kit Fine's 1994 essay Essence and Modality. Readings for the individual groups will include texts by David Lewis, Jessica Wilson, Nancy Cartwright, Alexander Bird, Charlotte Witt and Martha Nussbaum. close