Whatness

Translation of "whatness" into Russian

Noun

whatness

whatnesses pl

Abstract and often philosophical noun denoting the essence or quiddity of something.

The philosopher pondered the whatness of reality.

Философ размышлял о сущности реальности.

Noun

The quality or essence of something that makes it what it is; the inherent nature or fundamental characteristics of something.

Philosophers often debate the whatness of objects to understand their true nature.

In scholastic philosophy, the essential nature or quiddity of a thing, contrasted with its 'thatness' (haecceity).

Medieval thinkers distinguished a thing's whatness from its thatness in debates about universals.