What is the true meaning of metaphysics?

Metaphysics is a compound word derived from two greek words meaning "meta" = above/beyond "physics"= nature. It therefore came to be fundamentally, a discipline for things beyond nature. Its correct definition is suggested as " The branch of philosophy that examines the nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and matter, substance and attribute, fact and value and it is mostly basic in prior speculation up on questions that are unanswerable to scientific observation, analysis or experiment.

politics is the true meaning of metaphysics, just as it is the true meaning of knowledge.

Metaphysics is a branch of speculative philosophy concerned with explaining the world. A central branch of metaphysics is ontology, the investigation into what categories of things are in the world and what relations these things bear to one another. The metaphysician also attempts to clarify the notions by which people understand the world, including existence, objecthood, property, space, time, causality, and possibility.

One theory of the origin of the word "metaphysics" (in Greek, μεταφυσικά) is based on the organization of some of Aristotle's books in the Library of Alexandria. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle produced a number of works, which together were called the "Physics." In the Library of Alexandria, the works of Aristotle were organized in such a way that another set of Aristotle's works were placed right after the "Physics." These books seemed to concern a basic, fundamental area of philosophical inquiry, which Aristotle himself called "first philosophy." So early Aristotelian scholars called those books τὰ μετὰ τὰ φυσι κά βιβλια, ta meta ta physika biblia, which means "the books that come after the (books about) physics." The term "Metaphysics" covers the subjects addressed in those books by Aristotle, which have come to be called, collectively, the Metaphysics. The Metaphysics was divided into three parts, now regarded as the traditional branches of Western metaphysics, called (1) ontology, (2) theology and (3) universal science. There were also some smaller, perhaps tangential matters: a philosophical lexicon, an attempt to define philosophy in general and several extracts from the Physics repeated verbatim. Ontology is the study of existence; it has been traditionally defined as 'the science of being qua being', where the Latin word qua is usually translated "as". Hence, in English, "being as being." Although, as Heraclitus's example shows, it can be characterized by the nature of becoming as well. Theology means, here, the study of God (or the gods) and of questions about the divine. Universal science is supposed to be the study of so-called first principles, which underlie all other inquiries; an example of such a principle is the law of non-contradiction: A = A, A ≠ B, Not both A and B. In other words, the elementary laws of logic as Aristotle knew them. Universal science or first philosophy treats of "being qua being" — that is, what is basic to all science before one adds the particular details of any one science. This includes topics like causality, substance, species and elements. It also includes topics like relationship, interaction, finitude and a theoretically boundless infinity. Metaphysics as a discipline was a central part of academic inquiry and scholarly education even before the age in which Aristotle coined the word. Long considered "the Queen of Sciences", its issues were considered no less important than the other main formal subjects of physical science, medicine, mathematics, poetics and music. Since the Age of Reason, problems that were not originally considered metaphysical have been added to metaphysics. Other problems that were considered metaphysical problems for centuries are now typically relegated to their own separate subheadings in philosophy, such as philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, philosophy of perception, philosophy of language, and philosophy of science. In some cases subjects of metaphysical research have been found to be entirely physical and natural, thus making them part of physics. In more recent times, an alternate usage of the term "metaphysics" has arisen. People often use the term to refer esotericism and occultism. These other uses are, for the most part, entirely unrelated to the academic philosophical discipline

well to say what is the true meaning of metaphysics negates the IDEA behind it, its a view point of one mans ideas, how that can be truth is not answerable, which encompasses the whole thought behind it in the first place, you can make the world what ever you like, you have the ability to view things any way you think is right, but people are all to often influenced by to many other things to be able to generate what they want.

Issues not explained with the laws of physics!

The word metaphysics is derived from Aristotle, because his book on what we now call metaphysics followed his book on "physics"! Metaphysics is about the nature of the concepts underlying physics, in particular space and time. It also concerns issues such as whether there is matter, and what it consists of, e.g. fundamental particles. Metaphysics is relevant to your supplementary question. Thus if the world is real there must be actual things such as space and time. And if there is another world like us space and time are presumably duplicated in it. Whether the world we live in is real is a question also for ontology, the study of being, whilst much work within philosophical logic (notably that of David Lewis) addresses the concept of multiple worlds.

Metaphysics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. Please discuss this issue on the talk page, or replace this tag with a more specific message. Editing help is available. This article has been tagged since April 2006. Plato and Aristotle, by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome). Aristotle is regarded as the "father" of metaphysics.Metaphysics (Greek words μετα [meta] = after/beyond and Φυσις [physis] = nature) is a branch of speculative philosophy concerned with explaining the world. A central branch of metaphysics is ontology, the investigation into what categories of things are in the world and what relations these things bear to one another. The metaphysician also attempts to clarify the notions by which people understand the world, including existence, objecthood, property, space, time, causality, and possibility. Contents [hide] 1 History of metaphysics 2 Central questions of metaphysics 2.1 Particulars and universals 2.2 Change and identity 2.3 Space and time 2.4 Necessity and possibility 2.5 Abstract objects and Materialism 3 Criticism 4 Metaphysical subdisciplines 5 Metaphysical topics and problems 6 Metaphysicians 7 See also 8 References 9 External links [edit] History of metaphysics One theory of the origin of the word "metaphysics" (in Greek, μεταφυσικά) is based on the organization of some of Aristotle's books in the Library of Alexandria. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle produced a number of works, which together were called the "Physics." In the Library of Alexandria, the works of Aristotle were organized in such a way that another set of Aristotle's works were placed right after the "Physics." These books seemed to concern a basic, fundamental area of philosophical inquiry, which Aristotle himself called "first philosophy." So early Aristotelian scholars called those books τὰ μετὰ τὰ φυσι κά βιβλια, ta meta ta physika biblia, which means "the books that come after the (books about) physics." The term "Metaphysics" covers the subjects addressed in those books by Aristotle, which have come to be called, collectively, the Metaphysics. The Metaphysics was divided into three parts, now regarded as the traditional branches of Western metaphysics, called (1) ontology, (2) theology and (3) universal science. There were also some smaller, perhaps tangential matters: a philosophical lexicon, an attempt to define philosophy in general and several extracts from the Physics repeated verbatim. Ontology is the study of existence; it has been traditionally defined as 'the science of being qua being', where the Latin word qua is usually translated "as". Hence, in English, "being as being." Although, as Heraclitus's example shows, it can be characterized by the nature of becoming as well. Theology means, here, the study of God (or the gods) and of questions about the divine. Universal science is supposed to be the study of so-called first principles, which underlie all other inquiries; an example of such a principle is the law of non-contradiction: A = A, A ≠ B, Not both A and B. In other words, the elementary laws of logic as Aristotle knew them. Universal science or first philosophy treats of "being qua being" — that is, what is basic to all science before one adds the particular details of any one science. This includes topics like causality, substance, species and elements. It also includes topics like relationship, interaction, finitude and a theoretically boundless infinity. Metaphysics as a discipline was a central part of academic inquiry and scholarly education even before the age in which Aristotle coined the word. Long considered "the Queen of Sciences", its issues were considered no less important than the other main formal subjects of physical science, medicine, mathematics, poetics and music. Since the Age of Reason, problems that were not originally considered metaphysical have been added to metaphysics. Other problems that were considered metaphysical problems for centuries are now typically relegated to their own separate subheadings in philosophy, such as philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, philosophy of perception, philosophy of language, and philosophy of science. In some cases subjects of metaphysical research have been found to be entirely physical and natural, thus making them part of physics. In more recent times, an alternate usage of the term "metaphysics" has arisen. People often use the term to refer esotericism and occultism. These other uses are, for the most part, entirely unrelated to the academic philosophical discipline. [edit] Central questions of metaphysics Most positions that can be taken with regards to any of the following questions are endorsed by one or another notable philosopher. It is often difficult to frame the questions in a non-controversial manner. [edit] Particulars and universals The world seems to contain many individual things, both physical, like apples, and abstract such as the British constitution, Greek democracy, and the number '3'. Such objects are called particulars. Now, consider two apples. There seem to be many ways in which those two apples are similar, they may be approximately the same size, or shape, or color. They are both fruit, etc. One might also say that the two apples seem to have some thing or things in common. Universals or Properties are said to be those things. Metaphysicians working on questions about universals or particulars are interested in the nature of objects and their properties, and the relationship between the two. For instance, one might hold that properties are abstract objects, existing outside of space and time, to which particular objects bear special relations. Others maintain that what particulars are is a bundle or collection of properties (specifically, a bundle of properties they have). [edit] Change and identity Identity, sometimes called Numerical Identity, is the relation that everything bears to itself, and which nothing bears to anything other than itself. According to Leibniz, if some object x is identical to some object 'y, then any property that x has, y will have also. However, it seems to us that objects can change over time. If you were to look at a tree one day, and the tree later lost a leaf, it would seem that you could still go look at that same tree. Metaphysicians work to explain what it means for the same object to have different properties at different times, as well as the question of how objects persist through time. (See Also: identity and change) [edit] Space and time This apple exists in space (it sits on a table in a room) and in time (it was not on the table a week ago and it will not be on the table a week from now). But what does this talk of space and time mean? Can we say, for example, that space is like an invisible three-dimensional grid in which the apple is located? Suppose the apple and every other physical object in the universe were to be entirely removed from existence: then would space, that "invisible grid," still exist? Some people say not— they say that without physical objects, space would not exist, because space is the framework in which we understand how physical objects are related to each other. There are many other metaphysical questions to ask about space and time. [edit] Necessity and possibility Metaphysicians investigate questions about the ways the world could have been. David Lewis, in "On the Plurality of Worlds", endorsed a view called Concrete Modal Realism, according to which facts about how things could have been are made true by other concrete worlds, just like ours, in which things are different. Other philosophers, such as Gottfried Leibniz have dealt with the idea of possible worlds as well. The idea of necessity is that any necessary fact is true across all possible worlds; that is, we could not imagine it to be otherwise. A possible fact is one that is true in some possible world, even if not in the actual world. For example, it is possible that cats could have had two tails, or that any particular apple could have not existed. By contrast, certain truths seem necessary, such as analytic truths, e.g. "All bachelors are unmarried." The particular example of analytic truth being necessary is not universally held among philosophers. A less controversial view might be that self-identity is necessary, as it seems fundamentally incoherent to claim that for any x, it is not identical to itself; this is known as the principle of contradiction. Aristotle describes the principal of contradiction,"It is impossible that the same quality should both belong and not belong to the same thing...This is the most certain of all principles... Wherefore they who demonstrate refer to this as an ultimate opinion. For it is by nature the source of all the other axioms." However, in his monumental work, “An Investigation of the Laws of Thought" George Boole shows that the principle of contradiction follows from a fundamental law of thought introduced in Chapter 2 "signs and their laws". In the logic he introduces, 1 denotes the universe of discourse, x denotes a class of objects, and 0 denotes nothing (which is equivalent to the negation of the universe of discourse). However, since this is not arithmetic, special rules apply: + Denotes "and" (basically conjunction from propositional calculus.) (Thus, if a refers to the class of naysayers and b refers to the class of tallywackers, a+b is the class of naysayers and tallywackers). 1 + x = 1, since nothing can exceed the universe of discourse (it contains all classes of objects under consideration). Juxtaposition, which typically denotes multiplication, just further defines the class. (Let a denote the class of pink things and b denote the class of elephants. Then, ab denotes the class of pink elephants.) Subtraction denotes, (as in a-b) the class of objects with property a with the class of property b removed. (Let a denote the class of infants, let b denote the class of diapers. Then a − b would be the class of infants without diapers.) Suppose a=c. Then a-b=c-b. (Lots of Boolean Logic resembles algebra and arithmetic, but it is not the same thing.) x^2=x. This follows from the fact that x^2=xx. (Through examples, it is quite easy to convince oneself of this. For example, if x denotes the class of all apples, then obviously x^2=xx=x still refers to the class of all apples (remember, this is Boolean logic, not arithmetic)). The Principle of Contradiction follows from x^2=x. x^2=x Hence, x^2-x=0 and x(1-x)=0. Thus nothing can be in both the class x and the class that excludes x at the same time. Equivalently, nothing can have property x and property 1-x (which excludes property x). This gives structure to Aristotle's "principal of contradiction". [edit] Abstract objects and Materialism Apart from Universals, some philosophers endorse views according to which there are abstract particulars. Mathematical objects and objects in fictions are often given as examples of abstract objects. The view that there really are no abstract objects is called materialism. This section is a stub. You can help by adding to it. [edit] Criticism Metaphysics has been attacked, at different times in history, as being futile and overly vague. David Hume and Immanuel Kant both prescribed a limited role to the subject and argued against knowledge progressing beyond the world of our representations (except, in the case of Kant, to knowledge that the noumena exist). [citation needed] A.J. Ayer is famous for leading a "revolt against metaphysics", where he claimed that its propositions were meaningless. [citation needed] Martin Heidegger often criticised metaphysics, yet his early work dealt with questions that many would consider metaphysical. [citation needed] British universities became less concerned with the area for much of the 20th century; the later work of Wittgenstein discredited metaphysical questions as nonsense on purely linguistic grounds. [citation needed] However, metaphysics has seen a reemergence in recent times amongst philosophy departments. A more nuanced view is that metaphysical statements are not meaningless statements, but rather that they are generally not fallible, testable or provable statements. [citation needed] That is to say, there is no valid set of empirical observations nor a valid set of logical arguments, which could definitively prove metaphysical statements to be true or false. Hence, a metaphysical statement usually implies a belief about the world or about the universe, which may seem reasonable but is ultimately not empirically verifiable. That belief could be changed in a non-arbitrary way, based on experience or argument, yet there exists no evidence or argument so compelling that it could rationally force a change in that belief, in the sense of definitely proving it false. [edit] Metaphysical subdisciplines Natural philosophy Ontology Philosophy of religion Philosophy of mind Philosophy of perception [edit] Metaphysical topics and problems Identity and change Problem of free will The nature of time The nature of the mind