Thanks Alfredo. I will certainly try to updtae with some more philosophy content once I get into it properly.I briefly discussed the prospects for researching the epistemology of essence with Kit. He seemed to think that it's a good idea to look into it, even just to survey our options. He also acknowledged that one reason he hasn't really written about it himself is because it's an extremely difficult topic I have to admit that I'm not sufficiently familiar with Koslicki's work, apart from her paper in my own volume, but I will see her at the INPC conference at Boise in April and hope to discuss these issues with her there.I can say though that Koslicki seems to be sympathetic to Aristotleâ??s idea to trace the explanatory power of definitions to the causal power of essences. I trust Koslicki's interpretation of Aristotle at least; in the paper forthcoming in my volume she says that: A definition [horos or horismos], according to Aristotle, is a formula or statement [logos] of the essence [to ti e7n einai], i.e., of what it is to be a certain kind of thing'.She continues: On Aristotleâ??s way of thinking, then, the explanatory power inherent in definitions, in their role as the linguistic correlates of essences, is a direct reflection of the causal power of essences.' So, I think you are right in that Koslicki would take this direction. On the face of it, something like this looks quite attractive to me as well, since I would reluctant to say that real definitions just *are* essences. As I recall, Fine doesn't put it quite like this either. Well, this is something that I should also look into while I'm here.

by Mirian 11:16:02 AM 2012.10.03