Metaphysics

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality. This includes studies of the first principles of: being or existence, identity, change, consciousness, space and time, necessity, actuality, and possibility.[1] It can also include questions about the existence of (and conceptions of) God, as well as relationships between foundational philosophical ideas such as between mind and matter, cause and effect, substance and attribute, or potentiality and actuality.[2]

Metaphysics is considered one of the four main branches of philosophy, along with epistemology, logic, and ethics.[3] Metaphysics studies what it is for something to exist (to "be") and what types of existence there are. It seeks to answer, in an abstract and fully general manner, the questions of: What is it that exists; and What it is like.[4]

  1. ^ "Metaphysics". Encyclopedia.com.
  2. ^ "metaphysics". American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  3. ^ "Epistemology". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  4. ^ What is it (that is, whatever it is that there is) like? Hall, Ned (2012). "David Lewis's Metaphysics". In Edward N. Zalta (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2012 ed.). Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University. Retrieved 5 October 2012.