Heller, Michał (Wydawnictwo Naukowe Papieskiej Akademii Teologicznej w Krakowie, 1981)
The origin of essentialistic view and of its opposites, medieval nominalism and modern phenomenalism, is briefly reviewed. When defining a concept in formal sciences (logic, mathematics) certain elements of a given concept are ex definitione essential, and certain are not. Essentialism of this kind is transferred from formal sciences to empirical sciences by the very fact that empirical sciences progress via constructing mathematical models of reality. Therefore, one can meaningfully speak about essences of mathematical models. These essences, however, are not hidden under superficial phenomena, they are simply „constitutional relations” forming a structure of the model in question.
