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Ideas from 'Open Society and Its Enemies:Hegel and Marx' by Karl Popper [1945], by Theme Structure

[found in 'The Open Society and Enemies:Hegel and Marx' by Popper,Karl [RKP 1973,0-7100-4626-x]].

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9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 15. Against Essentialism
5451 Popper felt that ancient essentialism was a bar to progress
                        Full Idea: Karl Popper vehemently rejected the essentialism which underpins Plato and Aristotle, taking it to be a major obstacle to political, moral and scientific progress.
                        From: report of Karl Popper (Open Society and Its Enemies:Hegel and Marx [1945]) by Thomas Mautner - Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy p.179
                        A reaction: This makes Popper sound like an existentialist, which seems unlikely. Modern essentialism would say the opposite about science - that hunting for external imposed laws is a red herring, and we should try to understand essences.