The word essence is related to the word definition. That which makes a thing what it is, without which it could not be, is its definition, or essence.
Everything has its essence.
There are two kinds of essence. Everything could not be if the general thing called reality were not in it. So reality is the essence of all things. This is an essence a thing has along with all other things.
However, a cup needs, to be a cup, not only general reality, but specific reality which is itself.
What is, then, that without which a cup would no longer be a cup? A cup can be of tin, or china, or glass, or brass, or paper, or even diamond—or many other things. So it isn’t what it’s made of which is its essence.
And a cup may have a handle, or it may not have a handle. So it isn’t its having a handle which is its essence.
And a cup is drunk from, but so is a glass, so may be a pitcher, so may be a saucer, so may be a can. So it isn’t the fact that it’s drunk from which is its essence.
And a cup may be thin, or thick; and still be a cup. (Of course if it’s too thick, its “cupness” may be interfered with.)
And a cup may be round or slanting at the sides. So it isn’t its slantingness or its roundness which is its essence.
The question, then, is: What is it that all cups have to have, and what is it which nothing but cups have?
Well, a cup in one way approaches a pitcher, in one way approaches a glass; and in one way approaches a saucer.
If a cup were too low, it would be a saucer; so to be a cup, it must be of a certain height: not too low.
If a cup were too high, it would approach a pitcher; so it should not be too high.
And if a cup were of glass, and straight at the sides, it would be a glass.
Therefore, a cup is a thing which can be drunk from, encloses space; and the ratio of which as to width and height is not so much as that of a saucer or dish, and not so little as that of a pitcher; and when of glass, has not the straight line of a glass.
If in these words can be found what every cup has, and something which nothing but a cup has, there is to be found also the essence or definition of a cup. The essence of a cup is, then, a certain relation of one thing to everything which is in nothing but the cup; that is, the cup has one thing, or a group of forms which can be seen as one thing; and it has everything which all the cups conceivable have, as cups. It follows that a table in your home has one thing, its essence, which nothing but a table has, and everything which all the tables in the world have, as tables; that is, the something in common with all tables is what makes it a table.
The essence of a person can be called self or personality. Personality can be called the definition of a person. The fact that Emil Daniels is Emil Daniels comes from his having something which only he has; and something which everybody besides himself has. The relation of this indefinitely unique thing to this unlimitedly general thing, is Emil Daniels as such.
For beyond a cup as a cup in general, we can go to a very specific cup on a shelf in Mrs. Bulkely’s apartment. This cup has something which nothing in the world has, because the cup is, after all, itself. Then, as cup—that is, a thing of a class or kind—it has something which nothing but cups have. Then, as cup, it has reality; that is, it has something which everything has. This relation among uniqueness; something, but not all things; and everything—is the cup; is the essence of the cup. And in Emil Daniels, a relation among Emil Daniels as nothing but Emil Daniels; Emil Daniels as having something all men have and nothing but men have; and Emil Daniels as having something which everything has—is the essence, completely seen, of Emil Daniels. The essence of ourselves as a relation—a relation seen as belonging to us—is a form of us. But since we can be seen as belonging to a form, we are of a form, or relation: that is, a form or relation is the substance, the essence of ourselves.