Essentialism is the idea, descending from Plato and coursing through the bloodstream of Western thought, that we arrive at reliable knowledge only by figuring out the true nature of something, which is fixed, eternal, and durable. The essence of a thing is that thing. Essentialism makes us ask what-is questions: What is time? What is space? What is human nature? Or more locally: What is a woman? What is black? What is the essence of the Jew?
