How Modern Science Revives an Ancient Idea
For centuries, evolutionary theory seemed to spell the end for essentialism—but a radical new perspective suggests essence and evolution might not be enemies after all.
For over two thousand years, from the time of Aristotle until the 19th century, philosophers and scientists understood the natural world through a framework of fixed essences. Each kind of organism—every cat, every oak tree, every butterfly—was thought to possess an unchangeable core nature that made it what it was and nothing else. Then Charles Darwin's theory of evolution revealed a world in flux, where species gradually transform over generations through natural selection and random mutation. The Aristotelian view of fixed biological kinds appeared definitively refuted. As one reviewer of Christopher J. Austin's work notes, "Dogs have evolved from other life forms, and they will probably continue to evolve, and may well evolve so much that they cease to be what we currently think of as dogs" 1 .
In "Essence in the Age of Evolution: A New Theory of Natural Kinds," philosopher Christopher J. Austin challenges this long-standing assumption and presents a bold new theory: biological natural kind essentialism can be reconciled with evolutionary science through insights from contemporary evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) and a sophisticated neo-Aristotelian metaphysics 2 .
This revolutionary synthesis suggests that essence belongs in the age of evolution after all—we just need to understand what essence really means.
Aristotelian essentialism originally proposed that each natural kind possesses:
This perspective collapsed in the face of evolutionary evidence showing that species gradually change over time, share common ancestors, and lack the sharp boundaries that essentialism seemed to require 1 .
Austin argues that the problem lies not with essentialism itself, but with an outdated understanding of what essence could be. His evolved essentialism proposes that:
This theory utilizes a contemporary neo-Aristotelian metaphysics of "dispositional properties" or causal powers—properties defined by what they do rather than what they are made of 9 .
Austin's theory draws heavily from evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), which has revealed that the incredible diversity of life is generated by a surprisingly limited set of developmental modules and processes 4 .
Evo-devo favors a structuralist approach, recognizing that:
As Austin explains, essence can be understood as "comprised of a natural set of intrinsic properties which constitute generative mechanisms for particularised morphological development which are shared among groups of organisms, delineating them as members of the same 'kind'" 4 .
While Austin's work is primarily philosophical, psychological research reveals fascinating insights about how humans intuitively think about essences—what cognitive scientists call "psychological essentialism" 6 .
Research has investigated how children and adults conceptualize the physical nature of essences through discovery scenarios where participants must determine the best way to identify an unknown object's category 6 .
Studies presented children and adults with two approaches to determining an object's category:
The results revealed a clear developmental progression in how essences are physically conceived:
| Age Group | Preferred View of Essence | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Young Children (6-7 years) | Localized | Believe essence resides in one specific location within an organism |
| Older Children (8-10 years) | Transitional | Show movement toward distributed view |
| Adults | Strongly Distributed | Believe category-identifying features are distributed throughout |
This progression suggests that even children go beyond mere "placeholder" notions of essence, developing increasingly sophisticated conceptual frameworks about how essences might be physically instantiated 6 .
The research methodology used in these psychological studies is particularly ingenious:
| Method Element | Implementation | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Scenario Design | Unknown object categorization | Eliminates prior knowledge effects |
| Choice Paradigm | Distributed vs. localized sampling | Reveals physical conception of essence |
| Stimulus Materials | Various biological and non-biological kinds | Tests domain specificity of effects |
Austin's theory brings together several sophisticated philosophical and scientific concepts that form the "toolkit" for understanding evolved essentialism.
Properties defined by what they do rather than their material composition 9
Role in Austin's TheoryReplace static essences with dynamic causal powers
Conserved biological structures and processes that guide development 4
Role in Austin's TheoryProvide the physical basis for dispositional properties
Principles that constrain and specify morphological variability 4
Role in Austin's TheoryExplain how limited modules generate vast diversity
View that biological forms arise from natural laws rather than solely adaptation 4
Role in Austin's TheoryConnects biological forms to broader natural patterns
Capacity of organisms to maintain identity despite material change 9
Role in Austin's TheoryExplains persistence of kind identity through evolution
Austin's theory has significant implications across multiple domains:
As one reviewer notes, Austin's work represents "the fresh and exciting union of cutting-edge philosophical insight and scientific knowledge" 2 .
Christopher J. Austin's "Essence in the Age of Evolution" offers nothing less than a rebirth of one of philosophy's oldest concepts for the modern scientific age. By reimagining essence not as a static set of properties but as dynamic developmental dispositions, Austin provides a sophisticated framework that acknowledges both the reality of evolutionary change and the stability of biological kinds.
The theory reminds us that some of our most enduring philosophical concepts may not need to be abandoned in the face of scientific progress—they may simply need to evolve. As both the psychological research and Austin's philosophical work suggest, the human intuition that the natural world is composed of real kinds with distinctive natures may not be a cognitive error to be overcome, but a insight to be refined through better science and philosophy.
In the end, essence may indeed have a place in the age of evolution—not as a relic of our philosophical past, but as a concept transformed and revitalized for our scientific future.