An ancient philosophy that tens to spark controversy is metaphysics is basically the study of all reality. It can be very vague, offering more questions than answers, but it is a study that many people devote themselves to.

Metaphysics: A Definition

The term metaphysics comes from the Greek phrase Ta Meta ta Physkia, which means “the books after the books on nature”. This simply derived from a lack of a name for the material. The librarian who was cataloguing Aristotle’s works did not have a title for them, and he wanted to shelve them after the material called “nature”, so he called this material “after nature”. Though it has changed somewhat since its founding days with Aristotle, metaphysics is the study of the fundamental nature of all reality. It touches on “what is it?”, “why is it?”, and “how can we understand it?”. Metaphysicians study all reality, both visible and invisible, as well as what constitutes reality, both natural and supernatural.

Metaphysics and the Supernatural

Over time, metaphysics has become the face of the study of things which transcend the natural world. More specifically, things that allegedly exist separately from nature and have a more intrinsic reality that we do.  Thus, the popular notion of metaphysics has turned into the study of any question regarding reality that cannot be answered by science. This sense of metaphysics is regarded as some to be largely pointless. The argument is that these studies can neither state truth nor false, so they don’t really carry any meaning and shouldn’t be considered seriously.

Metaphysics is an ancient study, and as it was when it was first founded by Aristotle, it remains a controversial one. While some schools of thought flock to it, others shun it, but it stands alone in addressing the unknown questions in life.

Categories: Metaphysics | No Comments »