4.2 Abstract Essence

When we begin to understand something, we observe only a few phenomena, and take these phenomena as its attributes and essence. Then we observe more phenomena of it, such as a lot of phenomena of a person growing up. In our subjective world, we group all these phenomena and attributes into a set, which corresponds to this person. The essence of the person is the generalization of these phenomena. There may be contradictions between these phenomena. For example, Jone has done a lot of good things and some bad things, so we say that the essence of Jone is both a good person and a bad person. The essence of him can contain contradictions. The person's essence is no longer a concrete thing, but an abstract commonality, which is Li.

No abstract things of objective world can be observed directly. The generalization, description, or model of these abstract things are the essences. These essences are the Dao Li in the subjective world. The greater the scope of application of a theory, the greater its value. The scope of application of abstract things are greater than concrete things. So the essence as abstract thing is much more valuable than the essence as concrete thing. The essence mentioned by Essentialism mostly refers to the abstract essence, that is, the abstract Dao Li.

Taiji Evolutionism holds that what we call abstract things are abstract things in people's minds. Therefore, abstract essence is imagined by human beings, it is abstract generalization of various phenomena. Today's generalization is not the same as yesterday's generalization, so the essence changes. This should have been a simple matter, but since Hegel treated essence as an objective and real thing like an iron block, and it can change itself, so the change seemed mysterious, and the relationship between essence and phenomenon became complicated.

Hegel said,"The essence is not behind or outside the phenomenon, it is in the phenomenon, is that which is manifested as the phenomenon." At the same time, he said, "To regard the intuitive material as all true confuses the distinction between essence and appearance." Hegel's claims were so contradictory that he could only deal with them with mystical Dialectics, and could not really solve the contradictions. Hegel said: "Essentialism is the most difficult part of logic." [5] Marx considered Hegel's Dialectics to be headstand, but Marx still regarded essence and objective law as the existence of objective reality, rather than as the existence in human mind. Hegel babbled on about essence in a complex and mysterious way. In fact, as long as we had regarded essence as our own generalization of phenomena, as stable subjective existence in the mind, it would have been neither complicated nor mysterious.