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Definition of Metaphysics

1. Noun. The philosophical study of being and knowing.

Definition of Metaphysics

1. n. 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.

Definition of Metaphysics

1. Noun. (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''). ¹

2. Noun. (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. ¹

3. Noun. (uncountable by extension from the philosophical sense) Any fundamental principles or rules. ¹

4. Noun. The study of a supersensual realm or of phenomena which transcend the physical world. ¹

5. Noun. Displeasingly abstruse, complex material on any subject. ¹

6. Noun. Plural of countable senses of metaphysic. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Metaphysics

1. metaphysic [n] - See also: metaphysic

Medical Definition of Metaphysics

1. 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; phylosophy 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 metaphysics might not help Our physics." (Mrs. Browning) Origin: Gr. After those things which relate to external nature, after physics, fr. Beyond, after + relating to external nature, natural, physical, fr. Nature: cf. F. Metaphysique. 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. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Metaphysics

Literary usage of Metaphysics

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the by Charles George Herbermann, Edward Aloysius Pace, Condé Bénoist Pallen, Thomas Joseph Shahan, John Joseph Wynne (1913)
"These decry rational metaphysics and offer as a substitute a metaphysics based on sentiment, vital activity, or some other non-rational foundation. the ..."

2. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (1919)
"This is obviously the highest common factor of metaphysics and ... Of course, science as such can have no peculiar metaphysics, for the truth is essentially ..."

3. Psychology, General Introduction by Charles Hubbard Judd (1917)
"Psychology and metaphysics. When we turn from the special philosophical disciplines to the broader field of metaphysics, or the general theory of reality, ..."

4. A History of Philosophy by Frank Thilly (1914)
"Here begins the work of metaphysics; the contradictions must be removed and harmonized; we must modify ... This Herbart proceeds to do in his metaphysics. ..."

5. A History of Philosophy by Frank Thilly (1914)
"That is what happens in the metaphysics of the transcendent. ... Meta- * There are, however, several senses in which he regards metaphysics as possible: (1) ..."

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