essentialists
Believers in fundamentals
Essentialists believe that things have an underlying nature or essence that makes them what they are.
In philosophy, essentialism holds that categories like "human" or "art" have fixed, defining properties.
Critics of essentialists argue they oversimplify—assuming women, races, or cultures have inherent traits rather than socially constructed ones: Gender essentialists believe men and women are fundamentally different by nature.
Philosophy emphasizing ideal Forms
- AristotelianismPhilosophy derived from Stagira's sage
- ontologyStudy of existence's nature
- metaphysicsPhilosophy of existence's nature
- formsVarieties or documents
universals · archetypes · realism · teleology · naturalism · determinism · foundationalism · categorization
Prominent French family name
- ButlerName from domestic service
- poststructuralismPhilosophy questioning stable meaning
- deconstructionAnalysis exposing self-contradiction
- fluidityState of flowing freely
contingency · historicism · nominalism · intersectionality · reductionist · deterministic · rigid · othering
Existing from birth
- hereditaryPassed through generations
- groupthinkConformity-driven poor decisions
- stereotypingOversimplified group-based judgments
- reductionismExplaining wholes through parts
Platonism
Philosophy emphasizing ideal Forms
- AristotelianismPhilosophy derived from Stagira's sage
- ontologyStudy of existence's nature
- metaphysicsPhilosophy of existence's nature
forms · universals · archetypes · realism · teleology · naturalism · determinism · foundationalism · categorization · typology
Foucault
Prominent French family name
- ButlerName from domestic service
- poststructuralismPhilosophy questioning stable meaning
- deconstructionAnalysis exposing self-contradiction
fluidity · contingency · historicism · nominalism · intersectionality · reductionist · deterministic · rigid · othering · exclusionary
inborn
Existing from birth
- hereditaryPassed through generations
- groupthinkConformity-driven poor decisions
- stereotypingOversimplified group-based judgments
- Pedagogistsprogressivists, constructivists, traditionalists, reconstructionists
- believersbeliever, believers, adherent, devotee, theist
- simplifierssummarizers, condensers, abridgers, reducers, compressors
- Epistemologistsempiricists, rationalists, positivists, constructivists, instrumentalists
essentialistsconstructivists
Learners who build knowledge
existentialists · deconstructionists · conventionalists · postmodernists · relativists
essentialistsconceptualists
Artists valuing thought primarily
constructivists · conventionalists · instrumentalists · relativists · pluralists