Eidos is (what is)

 

Philosophical Definition

In Ancient Greek, eidos literally translates to "form," "shape," or "appearance." It is a cornerstone of Western metaphysics:

• Plato’s Theory of Forms: Plato used eidos to describe the eternal, perfect, and unchanging "Form" of things. For example, while there are many different physical chairs, they all participate in the singular eidos (Form) of "Chairness."
• Aristotelian Logic: Aristotle used the term to refer to the "essence" or "species" of a thing—the characteristics that make an object what it is, as opposed to its physical matter.
• Phenomenology: In the early 20th century, philosopher Edmund Husserl used "eidetic reduction" to describe the process of identifying the essential nature of a conscious experience.

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The only way to resolve that split is to re-connect abstract mental philosophy back into material philosophy, as it has been since Anaximander's time. The empirical (i.e. by things) and the non-empirical (i.e. by ideas) methods are two complementary ways of knowing anything and of representing panoramic philosophy as a unified whole. The material elements give us the external things of perception, while the abstract elements of mind give us the qualitative framework of assumptions and the idealistic plan of holistic construction, and we need both of those elements to do real philosophy.