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What is metaphysics & why is it important?
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Where did the word'metaphysics' come from?
Aug 21, 2015 · Metaphysics is the branch of thinking about what may exist, but we're not sure. Many phenomena had first an explanation on the metaphysics realm (also called mythology by some, though mythology is more about the three realms at the same time); only later science described those phenomena in terms of known causes and quantities.
- I. Definition and Key Ideas
- II. Metaphysics vs. Epistemology
- III. Famous Quotes About Metaphysics
- IV. The History and Importance of Metaphysics
- V. Metaphysics in Popular Culture
- VI. Controversies
Metaphysics is the most abstract branch of philosophy. It’s the branch that deals with the “first principles” of existence, seeking to define basic concepts like existence, being, causality, substance, time, and space. Within metaphysics, one of the main sub-branches is ontology, or the study of being. These two terms are so closely related that yo...
Whereas metaphysics is the study of reality, epistemology is the study of how we come to knowreality. There are many questions that fall into the overlap between metaphysics and epistemology. These are mainly grouped under the heading of philosophy of mind, the sub-field of philosophy that deals with how minds work, what they are made of, and how t...
Quote 1
This is one of the most basic metaphysical questions, and has been raised by several philosophers in the Western tradition. Several answers have been offered, notably the idea of a god who creates existence for the same reason an artist creates a sculpture – for the joy of creation. However, since the development, during the twentieth century, of the philosophies of phenomenology and its later form, existentialism, most philosophers have looked for answers based on things that we can know for...
Quote 2
Metaphysicians frequently ask what causality is and even whether or not there is truly any such thing. Some philosophers are extremely skeptical about causality, arguing that all we can ever know is that something happened and then something else happened. We’ll never truly know if there was a causal link between them, or if it was just a coincidence, or if some third event happened which was the realcause. Emerson, in this quote, is showing his colors as a pragmatist, or someone who believes...
Metaphysics is such a broad field that it’s hard to say when it started. The word “metaphysics” comes from Aristotle, but he was certainly not the first philosopher to raise metaphysical questions. Long before Aristotle was born, early Greek philosophers were developing all sorts of metaphysical and ontological theories: for example, the theory of ...
Example 1
The Matrixraises many philosophical questions. Most of the questions are epistemological (e.g. “how would we know if we were living inside a computer simulation like the Matrix?”), but a few are metaphysical (e.g. “what would happen to the body if the mind suffered an injury in the Matrix?”) At one point, Morpheus says that “the body cannot live without the mind,” but is that really true? The answer depends on what “the mind” is and how it relates to the body, and these are complex questions...
Example 2
(Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies) This is a line from the comedy writer Terry Pratchett, whose works often get their humor from philosophical puzzles. In this case, the question is “how can nothingexplode?” On one level, it simply doesn’t make sense. However, since there is very strong evidence that the Big Bang did in fact happen, the statement is worth considering. A dedicated metaphysician might try to make sense out of the idea by raising questions about what “nothing” really means; it’...
Dualism vs. Monism
Given that metaphysics is such an old field, it should come as no surprise that it has many long-running controversies. One of the oldest is between monists, who believe in a single kind of substance in the world, and dualists, who argue that there are two. “Substance” is an idea from ontology, which basically means, “what anything is made of”; so this debate is about whether everything is made of matter, or everything is made of mind–or other possibilities! Dualists differ widely in the spec...
Metaphysics: is it a waste of time?
Although metaphysics has been around for as long as philosophy itself, many philosophers have questioned whether it actually makes any sense. Ludwig Wittgenstein, for example, argued that the metaphysical was beyond the reach of human language, and therefore that it is futile to try and “describe” it as philosophers typically do. Instead, Wittgenstein argued, you had to approach metaphysical truth through other means – though he never specified what those might be. Music, art, and religious r...
Definition. Metaphysics is the study of the most general features of reality, including existence, objects and their properties, possibility and necessity, space and time, change, causation, and the relation between matter and mind. It is one of the oldest branches of philosophy.
Apr 19, 2024 · Metaphysics, branch of philosophy whose topics in antiquity and the Middle Ages were the first causes of things and the nature of being. Later, many other topics came to be included under the heading ‘metaphysics.’. The set of problems that now make up the subject matter of metaphysics is extremely diverse.
The meaning of METAPHYSICS is a division of philosophy that is concerned with the fundamental nature of reality and being and that includes ontology, cosmology, and often epistemology. How to use metaphysics in a sentence.
Sep 10, 2007 · It is not easy to say what metaphysics is. Ancient and Medieval philosophers might have said that metaphysics was, like chemistry or astrology, to be defined by its subject-matter: metaphysics was the “science” that studied “being as such” or “the first causes of things” or “things that do not change”.
Identity and change. Space and time. Causality. Related questions. Cosmology and cosmogony. Mind and matter. References. Metaphysics. Plato (at left) and Aristotle (at right). Aristotle is usually thought to be the creator of metaphysics. Metaphysics is a major branch of philosophy. It concerns existence and the nature of things that exist.
