Haecceity
Encyclopedia
Haecceity is a term from medieval philosophy
first coined by Duns Scotus
which denotes the discrete qualities, properties or characteristics of a thing which make it a particular thing. Haecceity is a person or object's "thisness".
Charles Sanders Peirce later used the term as a non-descriptive reference to an individual.
or hypokeimenon
. However, such a definition deprives the term of its subtle distinctiveness and utility. Whereas haecceity refers to aspects of a thing which make it a particular thing, quiddity refers to the universal qualities of a thing, its "whatness", or the aspects of a thing which it may share with other things and by which it may form part of a genus
of things. Duns Scotus makes the following distinction:
It is important to note that while terms such as haecceity, quiddity, noumenon
and hypokeimenon all evoke the essence
of a thing, they each have subtle differences and refer to different aspects of the thing's essence.
, and Conversation Analysis
are the main streams that elaborated during the '60s a new kind of sociology which influenced later sociology, philosophy and political analysis. Harold Garfinkel
is the founder of Ethnomethodology, and teacher of Harvey Sacks, one of the founders of Conversation Analysis. He used the word in his seminal Studies in Ethnomethodology (1963), to enhance the indexical inevitable character of any expression, situation, behavior or situation. According to him, the members display the social order they refer to within the settings of the situation they contribute to define. The study of particular situations in their "haecceity," aimed at disclosing the social order that is constructed by the members and their practices, is the object of ethnomethodology.
Garfinkel's 1988 famous paper generally referred to as "Parson's Plenum" is entitled :
, logic and Bertrand Russell
, and perception theory and Nelson Goodman
.
Phenomenology is the field of studying the phenomena as such, and can thus be seen as a contemporary philosophical version of the medieval concept of haecceity, though it does not focus on the quiddity of phenomenon or their essence, but rather on the practices and perceptions that construct the phenomena.
Medieval philosophy
Medieval philosophy is the philosophy in the era now known as medieval or the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century AD to the Renaissance in the sixteenth century...
first coined by Duns Scotus
Duns Scotus
Blessed John Duns Scotus, O.F.M. was one of the more important theologians and philosophers of the High Middle Ages. He was nicknamed Doctor Subtilis for his penetrating and subtle manner of thought....
which denotes the discrete qualities, properties or characteristics of a thing which make it a particular thing. Haecceity is a person or object's "thisness".
Charles Sanders Peirce later used the term as a non-descriptive reference to an individual.
Haecceity and quiddity
Haecceity may be defined in some dictionaries as simply the "essence" of a thing, or as a simple synonym for quiddityQuiddity
In scholastic philosophy, quiddity was another term for the essence of an object, literally its "whatness," or "what it is." The term derives from the Latin word "quidditas," which was used by the medieval scholastics as a literal translation of the equivalent term in Aristotle's Greek.It...
or hypokeimenon
Hypokeimenon
Hypokeimenon , later often material substratum, is a term in metaphysics which literally means the "underlying thing" ....
. However, such a definition deprives the term of its subtle distinctiveness and utility. Whereas haecceity refers to aspects of a thing which make it a particular thing, quiddity refers to the universal qualities of a thing, its "whatness", or the aspects of a thing which it may share with other things and by which it may form part of a genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of things. Duns Scotus makes the following distinction:
It is important to note that while terms such as haecceity, quiddity, noumenon
Noumenon
The noumenon is a posited object or event that is known without the use of the senses.The term is generally used in contrast with, or in relation to "phenomenon", which refers to anything that appears to, or is an object of, the senses...
and hypokeimenon all evoke the essence
Essence
In philosophy, essence is the attribute or set of attributes that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity. Essence is contrasted with accident: a property that the object or substance has contingently, without...
of a thing, they each have subtle differences and refer to different aspects of the thing's essence.
Haecceity and sociology
Social Construction of Reality, EthnomethodologyEthnomethodology
Ethnomethodology is an ethnographic approach to sociological inquiry introduced by the American sociologist Harold Garfinkel . Ethnomethodology's research interest is the study of the everyday methods people use for the production of social order...
, and Conversation Analysis
Conversation analysis
Conversation analysis is the study of talk in interaction . CA generally attempts to describe the orderliness, structure and sequential patterns of interaction, whether institutional or in casual conversation.Inspired by ethnomethodology Conversation analysis (commonly abbreviated as CA) is the...
are the main streams that elaborated during the '60s a new kind of sociology which influenced later sociology, philosophy and political analysis. Harold Garfinkel
Harold Garfinkel
Harold Garfinkel was a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is known for establishing and developing ethnomethodology as a field of inquiry in sociology.-Biography:...
is the founder of Ethnomethodology, and teacher of Harvey Sacks, one of the founders of Conversation Analysis. He used the word in his seminal Studies in Ethnomethodology (1963), to enhance the indexical inevitable character of any expression, situation, behavior or situation. According to him, the members display the social order they refer to within the settings of the situation they contribute to define. The study of particular situations in their "haecceity," aimed at disclosing the social order that is constructed by the members and their practices, is the object of ethnomethodology.
Garfinkel's 1988 famous paper generally referred to as "Parson's Plenum" is entitled :
Haecceity and philosophy
Harold Garfinkel was drawing on phenomenology and Edmund HusserlEdmund Husserl
Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl was a philosopher and mathematician and the founder of the 20th century philosophical school of phenomenology. He broke with the positivist orientation of the science and philosophy of his day, yet he elaborated critiques of historicism and of psychologism in logic...
, logic and Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
, and perception theory and Nelson Goodman
Nelson Goodman
Henry Nelson Goodman was an American philosopher, known for his work on counterfactuals, mereology, the problem of induction, irrealism and aesthetics.-Career:...
.
Phenomenology is the field of studying the phenomena as such, and can thus be seen as a contemporary philosophical version of the medieval concept of haecceity, though it does not focus on the quiddity of phenomenon or their essence, but rather on the practices and perceptions that construct the phenomena.
Sources
- Deleuze, GillesGilles DeleuzeGilles Deleuze , was a French philosopher who, from the early 1960s until his death, wrote influentially on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes of Capitalism and Schizophrenia: Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus , both co-written with Félix...
and Félix GuattariFélix GuattariPierre-Félix Guattari was a French militant, an institutional psychotherapist, philosopher, and semiotician; he founded both schizoanalysis and ecosophy...
. 1980. A Thousand PlateausA Thousand PlateausA Thousand Plateaus is the second book of Capitalism and Schizophrenia, the first being Anti-Oedipus. Written by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, it was translated into English by Brian Massumi...
. Trans. Brian MassumiBrian MassumiBrian Massumi is a Canadian political philosopher and social theorist. Massumi's research spans the fields of art, architecture, political theory, cultural studies and philosophy. He received his Ph.D in French Literature from Yale University in 1987...
. London and New York: Continuum, 2004. Vol. 2 of Capitalism and SchizophreniaCapitalism and SchizophreniaCapitalism and Schizophrenia is a two-volume theoretical work by the French authors Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. Its volumes, published eight years apart, are Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus ....
. 2 vols. 1972-1980. Trans. of Mille Plateaux. Paris: Les Editions de Minuit. ISBN . - Deleuze, GillesGilles DeleuzeGilles Deleuze , was a French philosopher who, from the early 1960s until his death, wrote influentially on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes of Capitalism and Schizophrenia: Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus , both co-written with Félix...
and Felix GuattariFélix GuattariPierre-Félix Guattari was a French militant, an institutional psychotherapist, philosopher, and semiotician; he founded both schizoanalysis and ecosophy...
. 1991/1994. "What is Philosophy?". Trans. Hugh Tomlinson and Gregory Burchell. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.
See also
- OntologyOntologyOntology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...
- Duns ScotusDuns ScotusBlessed John Duns Scotus, O.F.M. was one of the more important theologians and philosophers of the High Middle Ages. He was nicknamed Doctor Subtilis for his penetrating and subtle manner of thought....
- Principle of individuationPrinciple of individuationThe Principle of Individuation is a criterion which supposedly individuates or numerically distinguishes the members of the kind for which it is given, i.e. by which we can supposedly determine, regarding any kind of thing, when we have more than one of them or not. It is also known as a...
- QuiddityQuiddityIn scholastic philosophy, quiddity was another term for the essence of an object, literally its "whatness," or "what it is." The term derives from the Latin word "quidditas," which was used by the medieval scholastics as a literal translation of the equivalent term in Aristotle's Greek.It...
- Rigid designation
- AvicennaAvicennaAbū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
- EssenceEssenceIn philosophy, essence is the attribute or set of attributes that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity. Essence is contrasted with accident: a property that the object or substance has contingently, without...
- Entitivity
- Cf. Sanskrit tathataTathataTathata is variously translated as "thusness" or "suchness". It is a central concept in Buddhism, and is of particular significance in Zen Buddhism...
, "thus-ness"