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met⋅a⋅phys⋅ics
[met-uh-fiz-iks] 
–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
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
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To metaphysics
| met·a·phys·ic (mět'ə-fĭz'ĭk) n.
[Middle English methaphisik, metaphisik; see metaphysics.] |
| met·a·phys·ics (mět'ə-fĭz'ĭks) 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 © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Metaphysics
Met`a*phys"ics\, n. [Gr. ? ? ? after those things which relate to external nature, after physics, fr. ? beyond, after + ? relating to external nature, natural, physical, fr. ? nature: cf. F. m['e]taphysique. 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.]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. Note: 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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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metaphysics
The field in philosophy that studies ultimate questions, such as whether every event has a cause and what things are genuinely real.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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
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