The inherent nature or essence of a thing; that which makes something what it fundamentally is.
From Medieval Latin 'quidditas,' from 'quid' (what). Scholastic philosophers used this to debate what makes a chair a chair, a soul a soul, a thing a thing.
Medieval philosophers spent YEARS arguing about what makes a thing THE thing it is! The chair-ness of a chair, the you-ness of you — that's quiddity! It's the philosophical version of 'but what IS it really?' 🤔
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