Everything has its own essential and non-essential properties. The so-called essential attribute refers to the attribute that determines why it is what it is and distinguishes it from other things. Non-essential attributes are attributes that do not have a decisive meaning for the thing.
Essential attributes are the opposite of "non-essential attributes".
The fundamental nature of things is the negation of the intrinsically prescribed aspects of a certain class of objects. Prescriptiveness is strong or weak, and the nature that makes the object determine itself and distinguish it from other things is called essential prescriptiveness. Among the many prescriptiveness of things, some are in the primary, decisive prescriptive position, determining the essence of that thing, making something something;Some are in a secondary, determined prescriptive position, not decisive, not the essence and main characteristic of something.
The essential property of a thing is the property that must be determined in the definition of that thing, that is, the essential property that distinguishes the thing from other things because it becomes that thing. For example, the essential property of thinking is "indirectness". It is determined by the thing itself and embodied in its definition. The non-essential property of a thing is relative to the "essential property", which is the property of one or some things that is not primary, or which can belong to both one and the other, i.e., not to distinguish this thing from other things. It can be contained in or outside of all of its kind. For example, the "whiteness" of the white race is its non-essential attribute. Not only does it not reflect the difference between races, but it is also dispensable, that is, it can belong to the white race, and it can also exist among the yellow race and the black race.
The distinction between essential and non-essential properties of things is relative. In one case it is an essential property of a thing, and in another it is a non-essential property;Vice versa. For example, among the attributes of human beings, "man is able to make and use tools of production" is the essential attribute of man, while "man is an animal on the earth" is a non-essential attribute;Another example is the value attribute of commodities, which is a non-essential attribute for commodity producers and an essential attribute for consumers.