In our natural attitude we are absorbed in physical objects and events and in their general features, such as their color and shape. General features of individual, physical objects, Husserl called essence, in his early work the Logical Investigations he used term "species', in the later Ideas for a pure phenomenology and phenomenological philosophy the term "Wesen' or "eidos.'¹ To explain the very complicated question of what Husserl understands as essence, it is necessary to present the origin and a general thesis of phenomenology.