PH 202 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: John Locke, Mental Substance, Baruch Spinoza
12 May 2018
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Notes for Day 16
Real vs Nominal essences
Nominal essences: the names that we give to things, things that we learn through experiences, we learn
about how we experience the objects, we can add things about those objects, your experiences will
inform you about how to categorize things
Real essence: what the things or objects are really like
For complex things like substances, real and nominal essences are never the same
Our categorizations reach the level of the real essences of an object if it is simple and not complex like a
substance
This conclusion can occur only for mathematics
Our nominal essences are the way we categorize--> they are intended to be very different from the real
essences of the same substance
But how do we know that nominal essences don't match the real essences of a substance if we don't
know the real essence of a substance
Shouldn't we be able to know both nominal and real essences in order to prove whether they are
different
Locke doesn't answer this question because he doesn't know the answer, he just made the
categorization, he doesn't know all of the real and nominal essences of everything, he just thinks that
they should be different
However, Locke does think that there are similarities between the nominal and real essences of certain
substances
Example: when you look at an object from the outside, you are capable of observing the qualities of the
substance (the nominal essence of these qualities are descriptions of what they are and what they do;
the real essence refers to the inner workings of the substance that we can't see)
The real essence is the real attribute in which everything flows from (they are supposed to account for
every little detail about a substance)
One thing to consider is that we don't know real essences, we don't know the inner workings of
substances (Lockean humility)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Real essence: what the things or objects are really like. For complex things like substances, real and nominal essences are never the same. Our categorizations reach the level of the real essences of an object if it is simple and not complex like a substance. Our nominal essences are the way we categorize--> they are intended to be very different from the real essences of the same substance. But how do we know that nominal essences don"t match the real essences of a substance if we don"t know the real essence of a substance. Shouldn"t we be able to know both nominal and real essences in order to prove whether they are different. Locke doesn"t answer this question because he doesn"t know the answer, he just made the categorization, he doesn"t know all of the real and nominal essences of everything, he just thinks that they should be different.
