real essence, n.Definitions

Real essence (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠what everyone claims to mean when calling himself a man, and what no one can say anything about.

Real essence (n.) made ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the boundary of a species leaves us helpless, since no one could ever know when anything precisely ceases to be a horse or lead.

Real essence (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠what the mind, by a secret supposition, makes its words stand for — and so, trying to remove its ignorance, only adds to the imperfection of language.

Real essence (n.) as ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠what makes gold gold leaves us incurably ignorant whether any parcel of matter is gold, like a blind man asked in which flower the colour of a pansy is to be found.

Real essence (n.) tells ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠where a thing is, its status in the real world: many things can share an abstract essence, but only one can have a given real essence.

Real essence (n.) made ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠by nature for every genus would have to be very liberally bestowed, one for body, another for animal, another for horse, and all of them heaped upon Bucephalus.

Real essence (n.) even ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠as the hidden constitution of a thing still relates to a sort and supposes a species, and we only suppose its being without knowing what it is.

The Real essence (n.) of ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠man stands to our definition of man as the clockmaker's knowledge of all the springs and wheels of the Strasburg clock stands to the gazing countryman who only sees the hand move and hears it strike.