If a noema is an entity of some sort, what sort of entity is it? In Husserl’s ontology, there are just two kinds of entities: those that are real and those that are ideal. A noema clearly is not a real entity, it is not—as Husserl requires of everything that is real—spatio-temporally individuated. Is it then ideal? If a noema is an entity, it must be an ideal entity. An ideal entity is either an essence or belongs to the class of entities Husserl calls meanings. Is noema an essence?