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The Essences Of Objects: Explicating A Theory Of Essence In Object-Oriented Ontology, Stanford Howdyshell
The Essences Of Objects: Explicating A Theory Of Essence In Object-Oriented Ontology, Stanford Howdyshell
Philosophy Faculty Publications
In this paper, I will discuss the need for a theory of essences within Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) and then formulate one. I will do so by drawing on Graham Harman’s work on OOO and Martin Heidegger’s thought on the essence of being, presented in his Introduction to Metaphysics. Harman touches on essences, describing them as the tension between a withdrawn object and its withdrawn qualities, but fails to distinguish between essential and inessential qualities within this framework. To fill in the gaps, I will turn to Heidegger’s explication of phusis in order to show that an essential aspect of …