Challenges to

Essentialism

The Buddhist Challenge

Buddhism maintains that the notions of self is an
illusion.
The self does not exist in a static form and therefore is
useless/pointless to argue about.
The Doctrine of Impermanence (Annica) is the belief that
all things, including humans, are constantly changing.
Nothing exists for more than a moment.
If humans are constantly changing then there is no
identifiable characteristic that can endure over time.

The Scientific Challenge

Humans are simply a piece of biochemical and
biomechanical machinery.
Thinking and Reasoning are nothing more than the result of
electro-chemical actions in the brain.
Humans are the same as non-human animals just further up
the evolutionary chain.

Believe some monkeys perform acts of apparent

altruism ie) fight to the death to save a group
member. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKtOXvA14X4
Some species have been known to fight territorial
wars and some to kill for sport. This challenges the
notion that only humans can be evil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQq93Q2txrs

The Feminist Challenge

Asks whether there are universal female
characteristics let alone universal human
characteristics that unify them.
Questions the emphasis on reason as the defining
characteristic of Human Nature.
Historically Philosophers believed men had a
much greater ability to think and reason.
Feminists have also put forward the idea that
maybe emotion is superior to reason and it may
be the essential feature.

The Existential Challenge

Existentialism concerns itself with human

existence, the problems humans face and the
place humans have in the universe.
Soren Kierkegaard simply rejected the idea of
reason being a distinguishing feature of humans
at all and that any feature connects us all.
Jean Paul Sartre disagreed because he felt their
was no essence preceding existence. For this
reason he disagreed with the idea that humans
were born good or evil. They have no
characteristics with which they are born.