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Webster 1913 Edition
Metaphysics
Metˊa-phys′ics
,Noun.
[Gr. [GREEK] [GREEK] [GREEK] after those things which relate to external nature, after physics, fr. [GREEK] beyond, after + [GREEK] relating to external nature, natural, physical, fr. [GREEK] nature: cf. F.
métaphysique
. See Physics
. The term was first used by the followers of Aristotle as a name for that part of his writings which came after
, or followed, the part which treated of physics
.] 1.
The science of real as distinguished from phenomenal being; ontology; also, the science of being, with reference to its abstract and universal conditions, as distinguished from the science of determined or concrete being; the science of the conceptions and relations which are necessarily implied as true of every kind of being; philosophy in general; first principles, or the science of first principles.
☞ Metaphysics is distinguished as general and special.
General metaphysics
is the science of all being as being. Special metaphysics
is the science of one kind of being; as, the metaphysics of chemistry, of morals, or of politics. According to Kant, a systematic exposition of those notions and truths, the knowledge of which is altogether independent of experience, would constitute the science of metaphysics. Commonly, in the schools, called
metaphysics
, as being part of the philosophy of Aristotle, which hath that for title; but it is in another sense: for there it signifieth as much as “books written or placed after his natural philosophy.” But the schools take them for “books of supernatural philosophy;” for the word metaphysic
will bear both these senses. Hobbes.
Now the science conversant about all such inferences of unknown being from its known manifestations, is called ontology, or
metaphysics
proper. Sir W. Hamilton.
Metaphysics
are [is] the science which determines what can and what can not be known of being, and the laws of being, a priori. Coleridge.
2.
Hence:
The scientific knowledge of mental phenomena; mental philosophy; psychology.
Metaphysics
, in whatever latitude the term be taken, is a science or complement of sciences exclusively occupied with mind. Sir W. Hamilton.
Whether, after all,
A larger
Our physics.
A larger
metaphysics
might not helpOur physics.
Mrs. Browning.
Webster 1828 Edition
Metaphysics
METAPHYS'ICS
,Noun.
The science of the principles and causes of all things existing; hence,the science of mind or intelligence. This science comprehends ontology, or the science which treats of the nature, essence, and qualities or attributes of being; cosmology, the science of the world, which treats of the nature and laws of matter and of motion; anthroposophy, which treats of the power of man, and the motions by which life is produced; psychology, which treats of the intellectual soul; pneumatology, or the science of spirits or angels, &c. Metaphysical theology, called by Leibnitz and others theodicy, treats of the existence of God, his essence and attributes. These divisions of the science of metaphysics, which prevailed in the ancient schools, are now not much regarded. The natural division of things that exist is into body and mind, things material and immaterial. The former belong to physics, and the latter to the science of metaphysics.
Definition 2024
metaphysics
metaphysics
English
Noun
metaphysics (countable and uncountable, plural metaphysics)
- (philosophy, uncountable) The branch of philosophy which studies fundamental principles intended to describe or explain all that is, and which are not themselves explained by anything more fundamental; the study of first principles; the study of being insofar as it is being (ens in quantum ens).
- Philosophers sometimes say that metaphysics is the study of the ultimate nature of the universe.
- (philosophy, countable) The view or theory of a particular philosopher or school of thinkers concerning the first principles which describe or explain all that is.
- The metaphysics of Thomas Aquinas holds that all real beings have both essence and existence.
- In Aristotelian metaphysics physical objects have both form and matter.
- In his Pensées, Pascal mentioned some first principles recognized within his metaphysics: space, time, motion, and number.
- (uncountable, by extension from the philosophical sense) Any fundamental principles or rules.
- 1990 Jan. 1, Lance Morrow, "Gorbachev: The Unlikely Patron of Change," Time:
- The metaphysics of global power has changed. Markets are now more valuable than territory.
- 1990 Jan. 1, Lance Morrow, "Gorbachev: The Unlikely Patron of Change," Time:
- (uncountable) The study of a supersensual realm or of phenomena which transcend the physical world.
- I have a collection of books on metaphysics, covering astral projection, reincarnation, and communication with spirits.
- (uncountable) Displeasingly abstruse, complex material on any subject.
- This political polemic strikes me as a protracted piece of overwrought, fog-shrouded metaphysics!
- (countable) Plural of countable senses of metaphysic.
Meronyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
branch of philosophy that studies first principles
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