Often synonymous to
anti-foundationalism,
non-essentialism in
philosophy is the non-belief in an
essence (from Latin
esse) of any given thing, idea, or metaphysical entity (e.g. God). Non-essentialism might also be defined cataphatically as the belief that for any entity, there are no specific traits or
ground of being which entities of that kind must possess in order to be considered "that entity."