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Definition:
Essence and accident are two types of properties which an object can have, and
disagreements about them form the basis of many philosophical problems.
When a property is classified as "essence," that means that this property is necessary either for the object's existence or, at the very least, the object's membership in some category. Think of "essence" as a property which is "essential."
When a property is classified as "accident," that means that this property is not at all necessary. No matter how often this type of object has the property in question, the object can easily occur without that property. It may help to think of possession of such a property as "accidental."
As an example, we can say that the essence of a mammal is to have warm blood, but having the property of a long neck is, for mammals, simply an accident.
The Latin phrase per se, which literally means "of itself," is the equivalent of "essence." Thus, when we say that "Joe does not believe that war is a valid means of diplomacy per se, but he does think it is necessary in this case," we are saying that, according to Joe at least, war is not an essential property of diplomacy and its appearnce now is simply an accident.
Also Known As: per se vs. per accidens
Alternate Spellings: none
Common Misspellings: none
Related Resources:
What is Epistemology?
Epistemology is the investigation into the grounds and nature of knowledge itself. Epistemological studies are usually focused upon our means for acquiring knowledge, and as a consequence, modern epistemology generally involves a debate between rationalism and empiricism, or the question of whether knowledge can be acquired a priori or a posteriori.What is Philosophy?
What is philosophy? Is there any point in studying philosophy, or is it a useless subject? What are the different branches of philosophy - what's the difference between aestheitcs and ethics? What's the difference between metaphysics and epistemology?
