met·a·phys·ics
Audio Help [met-uh-fiz-iks] Pronunciation Key
Audio Help [met-uh-fiz-iks] Pronunciation Key –noun (used with a singular verb
)
) | 1. | the branch of philosophy that treats of first principles, includes ontology and cosmology, and is intimately connected with epistemology. |
| 2. | philosophy, esp. in its more abstruse branches. |
| 3. | the underlying theoretical principles of a subject or field of inquiry. |
| 4. | (initial capital letter, italics ) a treatise (4th century b.c.) by Aristotle, dealing with first principles, the relation of universals to particulars, and the teleological doctrine of causation. |
[Origin: 1560–70; < ML metaphysica < MGk (tà) metaphysiká (neut. pl.), Gk tà metà tà physiká the (works) after the Physics; with reference to the arrangement of Aristotle's writings
]
] | Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
Metaphysics
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| © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |
| met·a·phys·ic
Audio Help (mět'ə-fĭz'ĭk) Pronunciation Key
n.
[Middle English methaphisik, metaphisik; see metaphysics.] |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
| met·a·phys·ics
Audio Help (mět'ə-fĭz'ĭks) Pronunciation Key
n.
[From pl. of Middle English methaphisik, from Medieval Latin metaphysica, from Medieval Greek (ta) metaphusika, from Greek (Ta) meta (ta) phusika, (the works) after the Physics, the title of Aristotle's treatise on first principles (so called because it followed his work on physics) : meta, after; see meta- + phusika, physics; see physics.] |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
metaphysics
1387, "branch of speculation which deals with the first causes of things," from M.L. metaphysica, neut. pl. of Medieval Gk. (ta) metaphysika, from Gk. ta meta ta physika "the (works) after the Physics," title of the 13 treatises which traditionally were arranged after those on physics and natural sciences in Aristotle's writings. The name was given c.70 B.C.E. by Andronicus of Rhodes, and was a ref. to the customary ordering of the books, but it was misinterpreted by L. writers as meaning "the science of what is beyond the physical." Hence, metaphysical came to be used in the sense of "abstract, speculative" (e.g. by Johnson, who applied it to certain 17c. poets, notably Donne and Cowley, who used "witty conceits" and abstruse imagery). The word originally was used in Eng. in the singular; plural form predominated after 17c., but singular made a comeback late 19c. in certain usages under Ger. influence.
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
| metaphysics | |
noun | |
| the philosophical study of being and knowing |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
metaphysics
The field in philosophy that studies ultimate questions, such as whether every event has a cause and what things are genuinely real.
[Chapter:] World Literature, Philosophy, and Religion
| The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
Metaphysics
Met`a*phys"ic\, n. [Cf. F. m['e]taphysique.] See Metaphysics.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
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