Metaphysics Essay Research Paper Metaphysics

Metaphysics Essay, Research Paper

Metaphysics

.All men by nature desire to know.(p.51). So does Aristotle begin The

Metaphysics, a book, or rather a collection of lectures. It is the book of the

greatest importance for an understanding of the philosophy of Aristotle, and has

had a tremendous influence on the European thought. The word Metaphysics

derives from the Greek meta ta physika (.after the things of nature.). In medieval

and modern philosophy metaphysics has also been taken to mean the study of

things transcending nature. .That is, existing separately from nature and having

more intrinsic reality and value than the things of nature- giving meta a

philosophical meaning that it did not posses during the period of Classical

Greece.(p.153). This simply means that in ancient times the word metaphysics

only meant .after physics., but as time went on it took on a philosophical

meaning– things that go beyond mere physical attributes. The term has had a

religious and a spiritual connotation and refers generally to the field of philosophy

dealing with various things and their state of being. Metaphysic is thus, according

to Aristotle . Wisdom par excellence. and the philosopher or lover of wisdom is

he who desires knowledge about the cause and nature of Reality. Thusly wisdom

deals with the principles and causes of things, that means it is an abstract science,

not dealing with the senses. . Sense perception is common to all and therefore

easy and no mark on Wisdom. (p.169). But, though it is the most abstracted of

sciences, it is according to Aristotle the most exact of the sciences. Therefore

metaphysics deals with knowledge at the highest level of abstraction. It is the

study of the most basic element of motion. It is willing to look at the existence of

ourselves with a questioning eye. To Aristotle metaphysics was the study of

Being and its principles and causes.

There were a few people in the classical period that contributed to the

development metaphysics, among them were Parmenides, Plato and of course the

father of metaphysics, Aristotle. The history of metaphysics goes far back to the

sixth century BC. It starts with the Ionic cosmologists wondering about the

physical universe, the matter and substance of its make up, and the laws present in

nature. We first must begin with Promenades, since most of the concepts seen in

Aristotle.s writing are plainly visible in his writings. Parmenides believed that

there are principles, for example, noncontradiction and a principle of sufficient

reason, also, .what necessity impelled it, if it did spring from Nothing, to be

produced later or earlier. Thus it must be absolutely, or nothing at all. (p.169).

Philosophy, was therefore conceived as a deductive science like mathematics for

instance. It is also a contradictory contrast between apparent reality and true

reality. Like the natural scientist, the metaphysician gives an account of the

universe; unlike the scientist, he does not base his account on observations and

experiments. His account is based primarily on .analysis of concept; if he does

appeal to the evidence of the senses, he appeals to something that is familiar, not

to new evidence that he is adding to knowledge. (160). Parmenides believed that

typical characteristics of metaphysics were distinct philosophical inquiry. It is the

conception of philosophy which attempts to understand the universe by means of

logical investigation, appealing to meanings of terms rather those not base his

account on observations and experiments. It is the conception of philosophy

which attempts to understand the universe by means of logical investigation,

things we see and touch; moreover they are considered to be the source of

existence we see and touch, like . a man is the cause of his shadow or of his

reflection in a mirror or in a pool of water.(p32).

One can discern metaphysics as an independent method in the works of Plato,

but should keep in mind that in early Greek thought .Wisdom. was an

observation of the true picture of cosmos. This is why philosophical method did

not differ from the scientific method. In a score of his dialogues, Plato gave a

description of the highest sort of knowledge, rising from empirical reality to the

nonmaterial ideas following the hierarchical latter of concepts, and descending

back to the world of the senses. Plato.s metaphysics means the theory of Ideas,

which are present on Pheado, and have had a lot of influence in history of thought.

Plato argues .for the existence of mind or soul as a kind of entity distinct from,

and in some sense prior to, physical objects. (34). This is evident in Pheado,

where the theory of Ideas can be used to prove the immortality of the soul. Plato

believed that bodies cannot move themselves whereas the soul can. Thales and

early Greek philosophers busied themselves with materi

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