ABSTRACT
In this chapter the author sets out to argue, following closely the work of Kit Fine, Michael Gorman, David Oderberg, and E. J. Lowe that a modal gloss on essence is ill suited to capture what we take ourselves to be after in positing objective de re modal structure in the world—namely, the fundamental nature or identity of things. The chapter develops a neo-Aristotelian alternative in terms of a robust notion of real definition. At its core, serious essentialism consists of both a positive and a negative project in the metaphysics of modality. For many contemporary essentialists, modal essentialism is so ingrained in the current mindset that it is hard to imagine what an alternative essentialist framework might look like. The property of being malleable is arguably part of the causal profile of the element of gold.
