Skoči na glavni sadržaj

Synthesis philosophica, Vol. 33 No. 1, 2018.

Prethodno priopćenje

https://doi.org/10.21464/sp33113

What is the Essence of an Essence? Comparing Afro-Relational and Western-Individualist Ontologies

Thaddeus Metz orcid id orcid.org/0000-0001-9861-2408 ; University of Johannesburg, Department of Philosophy, B-Ring 7, PO Box 524, Auckland Park, ZA–2006 Johannesburg

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Sažetak

The dominant view amongst contemporary Western philosophers about the essence of a natural object is that it is constituted by its intrinsic properties. The ontological approach salient in the African philosophical tradition, in contrast, accounts for a thing’s essence by appeal to its relational properties. The Afro-relational ontology is under-developed, with the primary aim of this article being to help rectify that weakness. Specifically, this article’s aims are: to articulate an African approach to understanding the essence of a concrete, natural thing in terms of its relationships; to illustrate the Afro-relational approach with the examples of the self and of water; to contrast the Afro-relational characterization of the essence of the self and of water with a typically Western construal in terms of their intrinsic properties; and finally to provide an initial defence of the Afro-relational approach, both by responding to some objections facing it and by providing some new, positive reasons to take it seriously.

Ključne riječi

African metaphysics; essence; intrinsic properties; natures; ontology; personal identity; relational properties; self; water

Hrčak ID:

219850

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/219850

Datum izdavanja:

6.11.2018.

Podaci na drugim jezicima: francuski njemački hrvatski

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