 Essentialism in general may be characterized as the doctrine that (at least some) objects have (at least some) essential properties. This characterization is not universally accepted (see §3), but no characterization is; and at least this one has the virtue of being simple and straightforward. As for specific essentialist claims, we have already encountered one—the claim that the property of being human is essential to Socrates. Another example is the claim that Socrates’s biological origin—Socrates’s parents, or more particularly, the sperm and egg from which Socrates arose—is essential to Socrates. The first example is a brand of sortal essentialism while the second is a brand of origin essentialism. Both of these kinds of essentialisms have figured prominently in the philosophical literature.