The phrase "essential in itself" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to emphasize that something is inherently important or valuable on its own, without needing external validation or support.
Example: "The concept of freedom is essential in itself, as it forms the foundation of a just society."
Alternatives: "intrinsically important" or "fundamentally significant."
Instead of killing something essential in itself, perhaps Chuck E. Cheese should maximize its eccentricities, hang onto its robots, and wait for the kids of the nineties to start their own families.
SSE1 and SSE2 constitute an essential gene pair in yeast (Trott et al. 2005) and although not essential in itself deletion of SSE1 does confer a growth defect and stress-related phenotypes (Shirayama et al. 1993; Shaner et al. 2004, 2008).
Wakan has no essential characteristics in itself; rather, it is a kind of holiness or wonderfulness inherent in some objects.
The military crackdown last year shook Hong Kong's very foundations, destroying in days the colony's essential confidence in itself, in its future under China.
In its algebraic form projective geometry proved itself almost essential in the study of plane algebraic curves of any degree, and, extended to projective spaces of higher dimensions, to the study of algebraic surfaces.
Yet the SELDI diagnostic pattern itself proved essential in isolating a subgroup of preterm birth cases with unique features at the level of their amniotic fluid proteome.
The enzyme itself is essential in vertebrates, as homozygous Ippk knockout mice are embryonic lethal (Verbsky et al. 2005).
KLF4 is not essential for reprogramming induction in itself, but is critical for generating iPSCs with high quality.
Nuremberg was essential in creating memory and senses of responsibility, in Germany itself and far beyond.
Oxygen itself hinders bacterial growth, making oxygenating mouthwashes essential in treating and preventing tonsil stones.
