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It is not the case that A perfectionism grounded in a universal structural feature of selfhood cannot coherently be called anti-essentialist without equivocation on 'essence'.
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Reasons For
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Reason for
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1.
Any universal, structural feature that grounds normative ideals functions as an essence in the classical metaphysical sense.
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2.
Distinguishing 'form' from 'content' doesn't resolve the worry: both are essentialist commitments about what humans fundamentally are.
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3.
Calling such perfectionism 'anti-essentialist' without explicit definitional stipulation misleads audiences about its actual commitments.
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Reasons Against
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Reason against
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1.
Universal structural features of selfhood (e.g., rationality, agency) are metaphysically distinct from historical essences or fixed natures.
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2.
Anti-essentialism typically targets contingent, culturally-constructed identities, not formal features of rational subjects.
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3.
Perfectionism grounded in structural features can remain anti-essentialist about *content* while realist about *form*.
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