Existence and Essence: An Overview

Existence means to be present in reality which has both space and time. On the other hand something may have essence although it is not present in reality. Essence is the zest of something which makes it real. That is for which the object is really in its position or have a real being. Being is also a specific term which is used in the philosophy. According to the Online Cambridge Dictionary ‘Being’ means a person or things that exist or the state of existing. In terms of the theory of cognition ‘Being’ is the first stage in the process by which people arrive at knowledge of the world. In the context of Greek thought being denotes sonic single, permanent, unchanging, fundamental reality, to which is habitually opposed the inconstant flux and variety of visible things.

To clarify the meaning of existence and essence we can give a very simple example. The essence of bachelor is an unmarried man. However, if every man was married and there were no bachelors left (existing) on the earth, the essence of a bachelor would still be an unmarried man.

An existence has an essence. The essence of the existence is conceptual rather a fact of nature. In contrast essence is the fact for which we call the thing as it is. For instance, liquidity is the essence of any liquid thing. If something has not liquidity we will never call it liquid. We can clarify it through a classical example. Abraham’s people still believe in human sacrifices, as well as sacrifices of animals. The “essence” of “sacrifice” was “making a payment to the lord.” The essence of human sacrifice in today’s society is “murder”.

Existence can be defined from different perspective. Generally it is the word that indicates a sense of consciousness or awareness. Aristotle relates this word with casualty. Existence comes from the Latin word ‘exsistere’. Exsistere means ‘to appear’, ‘to arise’, ‘to become’, or ‘to be’. Literally it means ‘to stand out’.

Existence in the early period.

Plato and Aristotle describe existence in their works. Plato describes existence as being which has some special characteristics. Substances have fully being but other things like quality,

In the western philosophy essence of a thing is assumed as more fundamental and eternal than its mere existence. According to their philosophy if anyone wants to understand anything he must know about its essence. Jean Paul Sartre emphasized that existence precedes essence.

But another sentence I should include about Sartre. He did not use this notion universally. He just used it only in the case of humanity. He classified the Being as two types.

• Being in itself
• Being for itself

The first one is complete, fixed and having absolutely no reason for its being. It is the thing what it is. It is self dependent. But the second one (Being for itself) is not self dependent. It depends on the first one for its existence. It is not fixed. It is not eternal. It describes the state of humanity.