Essentialism

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In philosophy, Essentialism is a belief that everything has a true essence which can be discovered through the use of reason. The definition of essence varies greatly from philosopher to philosoper. Some possibilities include: a soul, a mind, an idea, or an ideal form. To distinguish between essential qualities and other qualities, an essential quality is one where the object would no longer be of the same type if the quality was removed. Plato was an essentialist since he believed in ideal forms of which every object is just a poor copy. \nSee: structuralism Contrast with: constructionism, poststructuralism, existentialism

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Essentialism is the practice of categorizing a group of people by a few fixed characteristics while not allowing for change or variation in the group. Examples of this include racism, sexism, and homophobia.

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Essentialism is an education theory that stresses rigorous teaching of basic subjects. Category:Epistemology