Look up: essentialism

1. 
   essentialism
   is most commonly understood as a belief in the real, true essence of things, the invariable and fixed properties which define the 'whatness' of a given entity. . . . Importantly, essentialism is typically defined in opposition to difference. . . . The opposition is a helpful one in that it reminds us that a complex system of cultural, social, psychical, and historical differences, and not a set of pre-existent human essences, position and constitute the subject. However, the binary articulation of essentialism and difference can also be restrictive, even obfuscating, in that it allows us to ignore or deny the differences within essentialism. -
   Found on http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome
   
   
2. 
   essentialism
   the view that there are invariant truths about the social world or that social phenomena are determined by an invariant core of properties. Essentialist theories are usually counterposed to those that stress the changeable quality of social phenomena. For example, essentialist theories of identity suggest that people have an invariant core of selfhood. Non-essentialist theories argue that identity changes in a way that depends on the social context.
   Found on http://www.polity.co.uk/cbs3/PDF/Glos.pd
   
   
3. 
   Essentialism
   the belief that qualities are inherent in (essential to) specific objects
   Found on http://wps.pearsoned.co.uk/wps/media/obj
   
   
4. 
   Essentialism
   is now increasingly used in order to explain why anti-essentialism is preferable, though in more purely philosophical discussion the term has greater usefulness. Amongst social and cultural researchers, anti-essentialism involves the rejection of a scientific quest for universal essences, such as the discovery of a universal psychological makeup, o ...
   Found on http://people.brunel.ac.uk/~hsstcfs/glos
   
   
5. 
   Essentialism
   In philosophy, `essentialism` is the view that, for any specific kind of entity, there is a set of characteristics or properties all of which any entity of that kind must have. This view is contrasted with non-essentialism which states that for any given kind of entity there are no specific traits which entities of that kind must have. A member of a specific kind of entity may possess other characteristics that are neither needed to establish it...
   Found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essentialis
   
   
6. 
   essentialism
   (from the article `Kripke, Saul`) ...truth and synthetic truth, or truth by virtue of meaning and truth by virtue of fact ( analytic proposition). In the course of making these ...
   Found on http://www.britannica.com/eb/a-z/e/46