Full Idea
The true essence of things is a fiction of representing being, without which being is unable to represent. 11[330] Thinking must assert substance and identity because a knowing of complete flux is impossible.
Gist of Idea
Essences are fictions needed for beings who represent things
Source
Friedrich Nietzsche (Unpublished Notebooks 1881-82 [1882], 11[329])
A Reaction
I have defended (in my PhD) the thesis that the concept of essence is required for explanation. Do animals need the concept of essence in order to represent? I think people and animals ascribe essential natures to most things.
Book Reference
Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'The Joyful Science, and 1881-82 fragments (v 6)', ed/tr. Del Caro,Adrian [Stanford 2023], p.415