...A peek into the history of this branch of philosophy would unveil that it was from the extensive treatise of Aristotle that the term “Metaphysics” was first coined – not even by Aristotle himself – but by the first century editor of his work, who, in assembling some of the philosopher’s writings on various branches of philosophical studies, took the title from those Aristotle most likely considered should be studied (literally) ‘after the Physics’; or after the treatises dealing with nature (ta phusika). Even during the Medieval era, the subject-matter of metaphysics was “being as such”; “the first causes of things”; ‘that which does not change.” Aristotle had divided metaphysics into three main categories, which now stand as the branches of the traditional Western science of metaphysics: ontology (the theory of being in itself), cosmology (the theory describing the origin and structure of the universe), and psychology (devoted to the study of the soul). Then, sometime in the seventeenth century, many topics and issues that Aristotle and the Medievalist philosophers would have classified as belonging to physics (for instance, the concept of the soul, the relation between the mind and the body, or the freedom of the will, or personal identity across time) began to be “reassigned” (rather abruptly) to metaphysics. The term “metaphysics” began to be a catch-all classification under which any and all philosophical problems that could not be otherwise categorized could be lumped...
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...Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that is concerned with the nature of existence. Metaphysics is concerned with explaining the ways things are by trying to answer the question “What is”, “what is reality”, what is free will”. It encompasses everything that exists, as well as the nature of existence itself. Compared to other branches of Philosophy such as epistemology that deals with things like the sources of justification, knowledge, metaphysics is concerned with explaining the way things are in the physical world. This is not the origin of the term The term “Metaphysics” comes from the Greek term “meta” meaning “after the Physics”. Although the term metaphysics generally makes sense in the way that it partially refers to things outside of and beyond the natural science. Instead, the term was used by later editors of Aristotle. Aristotle had written several books on matter and physics, and followed those volumes with works on ontology and other broad subjects. These editors referred to them as “The books that came after the books on physics” or “metaphysics”. Aristotle referred to metaphysics as “first philosophy”. This term was also used by some other philosopher like Descartes whose primary work focused on the subject of metaphysics. Metaphysical systems come in three main component: Physical system such as Kant’s, ideologies which are usually political, moral or other practical philosophical systems; and other religions which in their theologies attempt to create...
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...branches of philosophy, and talk about each branch a little bit separately, and then I’ll finish off by talking about some miscellaneous branches of philosophy that are kind of an overlap of those three branches. S2: The first major branch of philosophy is the branch of metaphysics. The word metaphysics means, ‘above or beyond physics.’ It investigates questions of reality and existence. But as the word implies, it’s not just simply the existence that we see or the things that we experience with our senses, but what’s beyond those. What’s beyond this real world that we see here? Why does it work the way that it works? Why is it here? How did it get here? Those are some metaphysical areas that we deal with here. We can break metaphysics into four sub-categories here. The first sub-category is cosmological metaphysics, and this deals specifically with the origin and purpose of reality. Why does anything exist at all? That’s often been called the first philosophical question. Why does anything exist? Where did reality come from? How did it develop the way that it was? What is its purpose—why is it here? Those are all cosmological questions. A second area of metaphysics is theological metaphysics, and this deals with the reality of something beyond the natural reality that we experience: the existence of some sort of supernatural. Here it deals with questions, Does God exist? Is there only one God? What is the nature of God—what is he like? How does he relate to reality...
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...Philosophy and Psychology The links in the table on the left take you to sub-headings on this page. |. |Philosophy can mean different things | | |Sometimes philosophers deal with questions of truth and sometimes with questions of goodness ; | | |sometimes they offer consolation for life’s sorrows and sometimes they are purely pragmatic. In | | |the philosophy of science, a theory may be valued only for its predictive capability ; its truth | | |or falsity may be immaterial. In ethics, philosophy may have a prescriptive function, offering a | | |preferred set of values ; but where those values originate from is a debatable question. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ...
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...Katlyn Revell May 27, 2016 ENGL 2112 Enlightenment to Romanticism: Metaphysics The Enlightenment was the realism of reality, and that science was the key. The Romanticism was about improving oneself for that is the only thing one can improve. However, both eras had something in common, and that is Metaphysical writing/poetry. We accept that any state of mind is extremely complex, and mainly composed by change influenced by desire and fear. Metaphysical is made of two words 'meta' –meaning beyond and 'physical' meaning our surroundings are an artificial world. (Stanford Encyclopedia, 2015) The inclination of metaphysical writing is toward psychological analysis of the emotions of religion, life, existence, and love. The characteristics of Metaphysical writing include the use of strange and sometimes unnerving imagery, use of paradox and exceedingly intellectualized and complicated thought. (Nebo Literature) Metaphysics deals with questions that can't be explained by science, it questions the nature of reality in a philosophical way, such as “Does God exist?”, “what is the difference between reality and perception?”, and “Is everything predetermined or do we still have free will?” (“Metaphysical Poetry”, 2016) Metaphysical writers try to explain the emotional and spiritual elements of life in concrete, rational and logical terms. For the Enlightenment period, Voltaire’s Candide is an example of metaphysical writing. In 1686, a prominent philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz...
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...Metaphysics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to:navigation, search This article is about the branch of philosophy. For the work of Aristotle, see Metaphysics (Aristotle). |Philosophy | |[pic] | |Branches[show] | |Aesthetics | |Epistemology | |Ethics | |Logic | |Metaphysics | |Social philosophy | |Political philosophy | |Eras[show] | |Ancient | |Medieval | |Modern | |Contemporary | |Traditions[show] | |Analytic | |Continental | |Eastern | |Islamic | |Marxist | |Platonic | |Scholastic | |Philosophers[show] | |Aestheticians | |Epistemologists...
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...of mind over matter versus matter over mind. This train of thought also includes the theory of perception versus reality. Idealism came into existence through the study of metaphysics. Metaphysics is the study of existence within the mind. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were the most noted times of discussion about idealism (Moore & Bruder, 2011). Idealism argues against other philosophical theories including materialism, realism, rationalism, and skepticism. Idealism’s most common argument is versus the theory of materialism (Lennon, 2008). The argument between idealism and materialism focuses on the two thoughts of mind over matter or matter over mind. There were many philosophers during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries who presented their views regarding Idealism. David Hume, George Berkeley. Immanuel Kant and Georg Hegel were very influential philosophers during that time frame. The differences between the ideas of perception and reality were discussed frequently by these philosophers (Walker, 2010). The work of previous philosophers influenced future philosophers. The ideas of each philosopher helped in the advancement of the knowledge to attain what we know today about various topics of interest in the different fields derived from the basis of philosophy. Math, science, medicine, physics are just some of the fields of interest that evolved through the history of philosophy. David Hume’s belief was that nothing is ever present to the mind but...
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...Study Guide: Lesson 7 Introducing Metaphysics Lesson Overview Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that deals with questions of reality. Since it deals with literally everything that exists, it is perhaps the broadest branch of philosophy. However, we will briefly spend time in this area. In this lesson, we will introduce some of the questions that we seek to answer in metaphysics as well as some basic metaphysical terminology you will need to master as we discuss metaphysical issues. We will also discuss the issue of method in arriving at answers to our metaphysical questions. Tasks Review and take notes of the presentation, “Metaphysical Terminology.”-Deals with reality - has 2 aspects to it: events and things or (time and space) -things: 3 attributes; properties, substance and an essence * Know the 4 characteristics of properties.- other words for properties: as qualities or characteristics; definition: this is an attribute or a quality a thing is said to possess, it’s a characteristic about that particular thing, (color, texture, size, shape) (adjectives) * 1) Properties are universals- they can be in more than one thing at a time. * 2) Properties are immutable and eternal- they do not change over time. * 3) Properties inhere in things- they are “had” by or are “in” things (they have to exist in things) * 4) Properties do not have causal powers- they cannot cause any things or event to occur. Two kinds: Accidental...
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...on philosophy and anthropology during the Enlightenment at the end of the 18th century.[1] Kant's major work, the Critique of Pure Reason (Kritik der reinen Vernunft, 1781),[2] aimed to unite reason with experience to move beyond what he took to be failures of traditional philosophy and metaphysics. He hoped to end an age of speculation where objects outside experience were used to support what he saw as futile theories, while opposing the skepticism of thinkers such as Berkeley and Hume. He stated: "It always remains a scandal of philosophy and universal human reason that the existence of things outside us ... should have to be assumed merely on faith, and that if it occurs to anyone to doubt it, we should be unable to answer him with a satisfactory proof."[3] Kant proposed a "Copernican Revolution-in-reverse", saying that: "Up to now it has been assumed that all our cognition must conform to the objects; but ... let us once try whether we do not get farther with the problems of metaphysics by assuming that the objects must conform to our cognition."[4] Kant published other important works on ethics, religion, law, aesthetics, astronomy, and history. These included the Critique of Practical Reason(Kritik der praktischen Vernunft, 1788) and the Metaphysics of Morals (Die Metaphysik der Sitten, 1797), which dealt with ethics. And the Critique of Judgment (Kritik der Urteilskraft, 1790), which looks at aesthetics and teleology. He aimed to resolve disputes between empirical and rationalistapproaches. The former...
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...Bertrand Russell famously summarized Hume's contribution to philosophy, saying that he "developed to its logical conclusion the empiricist philosophy of Locke and Berkeley, and by making it self-consistent made it incredible." Hume is remarkable in that he does not shy away from conclusions that might seem unlikely or unreasonable. Ultimately, he concludes that we have no good reason to believe almost everything we believe about the world, but that this is not such a bad thing. Nature helps us to get by where reason lets us down. Hume is unquestionably an empiricist philosopher, and he strives to bring the rigor of scientific methodology to bear on philosophical reasoning. His distinction between relations of ideas and matters of fact is absolutely crucial in this respect. Anything we can say about the world is a matter of fact, and thus can be justified only through experience and can be denied without contradiction. Relations of ideas can teach us about mathematical truths, but cannot, as some rationalist philosophers would have, teach us about the existence of our selves, an external world, or God. If we are left with only matters of fact to get us by in the world, however, we find ourselves greatly limited. How can past experience teach me anything about the future? Even to infer without circularity that future experience will resemble past experience requires some principle that cannot be grounded in past experience. Without that principle, our ability to reason according...
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...ways as well. Some believe that God, for example, is real. Others believe that the world as we know it can be explained through science, and science alone. First we will look at what Aristotle, one of the early philosophers, view on metaphysics, epistemology, and value theory and then look at a current century way of viewing the world. Chapter 1 Aristotle - Biography Aristotle was born in 384 BCE. at Stagirus, a Greek colony and seaport on the coast of Thrace. His father Nichomachus was court physician to King Amyntas of Macedonia, and from this began Aristotle's long association with the Macedonian Court, which considerably influenced his life. At age 17 his guardian, Proxenus, sent him to Athens, the intellectual center of the world, to complete his education. He joined the Academy and studied under Plato, attending his lectures for a period of twenty years. In the later years of his association with Plato and the Academy he began to lecture on his own account, especially on the subject of rhetoric. At the death of Plato in 347, the pre-eminent ability of Aristotle would seem to have designated him to succeed to the leadership of the Academy. But his divergence from Plato's teaching was too great to make this possible, and Plato's nephew Speusippus was chosen instead. Aristotle on Metaphysics Aristotle's editors gave the name "Metaphysics" to his works on first philosophy, either because they went beyond or followed after his physical investigations. Aristotle begins...
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...on philosophy and anthropology during the Enlightenment at the end of the 18th century.[1] Kant's major work, the Critique of Pure Reason (Kritik der reinen Vernunft, 1781),[2] aimed to unite reason with experience to move beyond what he took to be failures of traditional philosophy and metaphysics. He hoped to end an age of speculation where objects outside experience were used to support what he saw as futile theories, while opposing the skepticism of thinkers such as Berkeley and Hume. He stated: "It always remains a scandal of philosophy and universal human reason that the existence of things outside us ... should have to be assumed merely on faith, and that if it occurs to anyone to doubt it, we should be unable to answer him with a satisfactory proof."[3] Kant proposed a "Copernican Revolution-in-reverse", saying that: "Up to now it has been assumed that all our cognition must conform to the objects; but ... let us once try whether we do not get farther with the problems of metaphysics by assuming that the objects must conform to our cognition."[4] Kant published other important works on ethics, religion, law, aesthetics, astronomy, and history. These included the Critique of Practical Reason(Kritik der praktischen Vernunft, 1788) and the Metaphysics of Morals (Die Metaphysik der Sitten, 1797), which dealt with ethics. And the Critique of Judgment (Kritik der Urteilskraft, 1790), which looks at aesthetics and teleology. He aimed to resolve disputes between empirical and rationalistapproaches. The former...
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...Philosophy can be defined as the love of wisdom and theology is described as the study of God. They have some similarities and differences. Philosophy is a compile of ideas related to human nature. It is considered as a guide through out a person’s life addressing issues that maybe basic and pervasive defining the path we choose to take and how we treat others. Philosophies are based on logical arguments and rely on facts. The topic of philosophy can address several different areas such as: the theory of reality metaphysics, the theory of knowledge epistemology, the theory of moral values ethics, politics the theory of legal rights and government, and the theory of the nature of art aesthetics. However, the most common system of ideas is...
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...Name Professor Course Date Metaphysics METAPHYSICS The word metaphysics is derived from Greek words; Meta meaning beyond or after while physicia means physical which refers to the works on matter by Aristotle in antiquity (Statile, et al. 2006). Therefore, it is literally after physics. Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with the understanding and the explanation of the fundamentals of Nature of being and the world (Statile, et al. 2006). It seeks to investigate the principles of reality; state of things as they exist and whether or not they are observable or comprehensible. Aristoterian hylomorphism Aristotelian hylomorphism is a philosophical theory that was developed by Aristotle, which analyzes substances into matter and form. Aristotle theory seeks to understand the inherent quality in matter that a substance conceives as forms (Statile, et al. 2006). Aristotle’s hylomorphism theory, therefore, seeks to relate matter and form, soul and body and substantial form, accidental form and prime matter. This theory has given rise to many debates by scholars as according to this theory; it is workable especially in proximate and non proximate matter. According to the definition of matter and form hylomorphism theory, is not workable with regards to body and soul. Matter and form According to Aristotle, the fundamental question is not “Is X matter?” but rather “what is the matter of X?” (Statile, et al. 2006). Aristotle, therefore, defines the matter...
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...TRANSCENDENTAL PROPERTIES OF BEING By: MBAKWE NICHOLAS CHUKWUNWEIKE Introduction Metaphysics is not just a science in Aristotle’s conception of it, but one that distinguishes itself from all the particular sciences by firstly raising the question of the first and most universal causes and secondly by taking as its subject of consideration ‘being’ simply as ‘being’ in its most universal and in its most concrete sense as present in experience. Implicitly, being must be taken as analogous from the very beginning of the investigation, not in the sense that it would diffuse the unity of this science into a mere difference of differences, but in the sense that it would raise this science to a higher kind of unity according to an order of different degrees of being as they relate to a primary analogate as the one to which all relate more or less distantly. To delve more deeply into this analogous subject of consideration one must further distinguish transcendental properties that follow being in its analogous and transcendental sense. In the end, when the question of a first, universal cause of being as being, or of a summit of being that would be totally transcendent, is finally raised, all of this a priori conception of being as analogous according to different degrees with its corresponding degrees of oneness, activity, truth and goodness must be brought into play in relation to things as they come under sense experience as moved, caused, contingent and exhibiting different degrees...
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