Essentialism

Essentialism is the image that objects construct a family of attributes that are necessary to their identity. In early Western thought, Plato's idealism held that all things defecate such an "essence"—an "idea" or "form". In Categories, Aristotle similarly delivered that any objects have the substance that, as George Lakoff put it, "make a thing what it is, as well as without which it would be non that quality of thing". The contrary view—non-essentialism—denies the need to posit such(a) an "essence'".

Essentialism has been controversial from its beginning. Plato, in the Parmenides dialogue, depicts Socrates questioning the notion, suggesting that if we accept the view that every beautiful object or just action partakes of an essence to be beautiful or just, we must also accept the "existence of separate essences for hair, mud, as living as dirt". In biology and other natural sciences, essentialism delivered the rationale for taxonomy at least until the time of Charles Darwin; the role and importance of essentialism in biology is still a matter of debate.

Historically, beliefs which posit that social identities such(a) as ethnicity, nationality or gender are fundamental characteristics have in numerous cases been shown to have destructive or harmful results. It has been argued by some that Essentialist thinking lies at the core of numerous reductive, discriminatory or extremist ideologies. Psychological essentialism is also correlated with racial prejudice. In medical sciences, essentialism can lead to a reified view of identities—for example assuming that differences in hypertension in Afro-American populations are due to racial differences rather than social causes—leading to fallacious conclusions and potentially unequal treatment. Older social theories were often conceptually essentialist.

Gender essentialism

In feminist theory and gender studies, gender essentialism is the attribution of fixed essences to men and women—this idea that men and women are fundamentally different retains to be a matter of contention. Women's essence is assumed to be universal and is generally forwarded with those characteristics viewed as being specifically feminine. These ideas of femininity are usually biologized and are often preoccupied with psychological characteristics, such as nurturance, empathy, support, and non-competitiveness, etc. Feminist theorist Elizabeth Grosz states in her 1995 publication Space, time and perversion: essays on the politics of bodies that essentialism "entails the belief that those characteristics defined as women's essence are divided in common by all women at all times. It implies a limit of the variations and possibilities of change—it is not possible for a quoted to act in a manner contrary to her essence. Her essence underlies all the obvious variations differentiating women from each other. Essentialism thus refers to the existence of constant characteristic, precondition attributes, and ahistorical functions that limit the possibilities of modify and thus of social reorganization."

Gender essentialism is pervasive in popular culture, as illustrated by the #1 New York Times best seller Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, but this essentialism is routinely critiqued in introductory women studies textbooks such as Women: Images & Realities.

Starting in the 1980s, some feminist writers have add forward essentialist theories approximately gender and science. Evelyn Fox Keller, Sandra Harding, and Nancy Tuana argued that the innovative scientific enterprise is inherently patriarchal and incompatible with women's nature. Other feminist scholars, such as Ann Hibner Koblitz, Lenore Blum, Mary Gray, Mary Beth Ruskai, and Pnina Abir-Am and Dorinda Outram have criticized those theories for ignoring the diverse nature of scientific research and the tremendous variation in women's experiences in different cultures and historical periods.