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Metaphysics. The beginning of Aristotle's Metaphysics, one of the foundational texts of the discipline. Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is often characterized as first philosophy, implying that it is more fundamental than other forms of philosophical inquiry.
Jun 25, 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.’
This article defines the philosophical branch of metaphysics, outlining its key focuses and discussing why it’s important today.
Sep 10, 2007 · Metaphysics. 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”.
metaphysics, Branch of philosophy that studies the ultimate structure and constitution of reality—i.e., of that which is real, insofar as it is real.
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 ...
Oct 19, 2023 · Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the fundamental nature of reality, the relationship between mind and matter, substance and attribute, possibility and actuality.
Oct 8, 2000 · 1. The Subject Matter of Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Aristotle himself described his subject matter in a variety of ways: as ‘first philosophy’, or ‘the study of being qua being’, or ‘wisdom’, or ‘theology’. A comment on these descriptions will help to clarify Aristotle’s topic.
He called it ‘first philosophy’, sometimes also ‘the science of being’ (more-or-less what ‘ontology’ means); but at some point in antiquity his writings on the topic came to be known as the ‘metaphysics’ – from the Greek for ‘after natural things’, that is, what comes after the study of nature.
His contributions to metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics have had a profound impact on almost every philosophical movement that followed him. This article focuses on his metaphysics and epistemology in one of his most important works, The Critique of Pure Reason .
