Essence and Modality: From Husserl to Wittgenstein

Wittgenstein’s early writings refer to a large number of different essences. What did Wittgenstein take the relation between essentiality and necessity to be? Did he identify them? How is his claim that essence is intelligible and specifiable to be understood? This chapter attempts to answer these questions, in part by contrasting Wittgenstein’s account of essentiality and modality with the earlier account given by another Austrian philosopher, Husserl.