| Sumario: | The article focuses on Lockean theory of substance terms. According to this theory, a substance term denotes all and only those items that fit the nominal essence associated with the term. But "the" nominal essence in question is an expert nominal essence: that associated with the term by those in the community who know how properly to apply it, and to whom the rest of the community is linguistically deferential. Such a focusing on expert nominal essences is particularly important in relation to substance terms, given some of John Locke's pronouncements on this topic.
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