Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Philosophy The branch of philosophy that examines the nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and matter, substance and attribute, fact and value.
- n. The theoretical or first principles of a particular discipline: the metaphysics of law.
- n. A priori speculation upon questions that are unanswerable to scientific observation, analysis, or experiment.
- n. Excessively subtle or recondite reasoning.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The science of the inward and essential nature of things. As the subject of the books of Aristotle so called, first philosophy; ontology; the analysis of the nature of being in general; the doctrine of first principles.
- n. [Used frequently with the definite article, and generally connected with unpleasant associations, as being a study very dry and at the same time of doubtful truth.
- n. Philosophy in general; especially, the philosophical study of mind; psychology: so used from the time of Descartes, and especially by the Scotch school.
- n. In the Kantian terminology, the science of God, freedom, and immortality. Abbreviated metaphysics
Wiktionary
- n. 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).
- n. 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.
- n. uncountable, by extension from the philosophical sense Any fundamental principles or rules.
- n. uncountable The study of a supersensual realm or of phenomena which transcend the physical world.
- n. uncountable Displeasingly abstruse, complex material on any subject.
- n. countable Plural of countable senses of metaphysic.
GNU Webster's 1913
- 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.
- n. The scientific knowledge of mental phenomena; mental philosophy; psychology.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the philosophical study of being and knowing
Etymologies
- From Latin metaphysica, from Byzantine Greek μεταφυσικά (metaphusika), from the title of the collection by Aristotle μετὰ τὰ φυσικά, a collection that comes after (μετά (meta)) Aristotle's collection entitled τὰ φυσικά, from φυσικός (phusikos, "natural"). (Wiktionary)
- 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. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“This use of the term metaphysics is unfortunate because it rests on Descartes's false assumption that the method in metaphysics is subjective, in other words, that all the conclusions of metaphysics are based on the study of subjective, or mental, phenemona.”
“The term metaphysics, as used by one school of philosophers, is narrowed down to mean the science of mental phenomena and of the laws of mind, In this sense, it is employed, for instance, by Hamilton”
“It is in this sense that the "Revue de métaphysique et de morale" (see bibliography) uses the term metaphysics in its title.”
“Until then your metaphysics is as valid as mine but no more so.”
“Heidegger sees modern technology as the fulfillment of Western metaphysics, which he characterizes as the metaphysics of presence.”
“This is less conspicuous in other countries, but in India it is habitually assumed that the study of what we call metaphysics or theology needs some kind of physical discipline and it will be well to elucidate this point before describing the beginnings of speculation.”
“This is what I term the metaphysics of concept, for it is a speculation which consists in juggling with abstract ideas.”
The Mind and the Brain Being the Authorised Translation of L'Âme et le Corps
“Undoubtedly Olin Brad was a clever fellow, uncommonly well read in the surface literatures of foreign origin, and had a keen interest in what he called the metaphysics of his own time.”
The Complete Project Gutenberg Writings of Charles Dudley Warner
“If the term metaphysics bothers you, perhaps we should call them mu/aphysics.”
“Defining it as metaphysics is still like Christians defining evolution as a religion.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘metaphysics’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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phrontistery - m
from phrontistery.info
mabble, mabsoot, macadamize, macarism, macarize, macaronic, macerate, macerator, machair, machairodont, machicolation, machinule and 898 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2057 more...
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Philosophical Shit
Thought-provokers; words that ask more questions than they answer.
meta, semantic, signify, sign, autological, heterological, ontology, hylozoism, abiogenesis, anima, homoiconicity, anthropomorphism and 11 more...
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Interesting words
A list of philosophically oriented terms/words that are common vocabulary for philosophers, or spark interesting discussion and thought.
formalisation, phenomenological, experiential, a-priori, aporia, logos, epoche, metaphysics, Other, Same, realism, idealism and 3 more...
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JessIsWhy's list
I often wonder about the origin of words. When ever I find out that a word comes from a Latin, Greek or other word I wonder, "Then where did that word come from?" So I recently looked up the study ...
nephrology, otolaryngology, philom, self-aggrandize, memetics, craneometry, epicurean, epicureanism, diogenes, oenoanda, hermeneutical, ontology and 3 more...
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philosophical concepts
Different concepts and branches of philosophy which haven't become independent fields of investigation. For example, "physicalism" is valid but not "physics", "scientism" but not "science", "cogni...
philosophy, ontology, epistemology, ethics, logic, nominalism, analytic philosophy, semiotics, structuralism, deconstructionism, postmodernism, skepticism and 40 more...
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meta-, met-
denoting a change; denoting position behind,after, or beyond; denoting something of a higher or second order
metalanguage, metacarpus, metamorphosis, metaldehyde, metaprotein, metaphysics, metathorax, metapsychosis, metaphosphoric
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Pluralia Tantum
Nouns that are common in plural form but are non-existent or rarely used in singular form.
scissors, thanks, clothes, remains, tights, trousers, pants, news, billiards, means, mathematics, physics and 221 more...
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Vocab ##5
appint, monarch, counterpart, muse, bestow, unwitting, aghast, admonish, wage, decree, cavalry, phalanx and 126 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (M)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
mace, macintosh, madras, magenta, magic 8 ball, magma, mahogany, maiden, mail, mainsail, maize, malachite and 169 more...
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strieale's Words
scientism, chronological, christophobia, subsurface, high culture, jeffersonian demo..., jacksonian democracy, incommensurable, rebuttal, discerning, disparate, anodyne and 156 more...
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The Collection
A somewhat discriminatory list of words and phrases collected for their euphonic or arcane appeal, interesting etymology, or concise definition of an otherwise unnamed phenomenon or concept.
ziggurat, neophilia, sucker punch, soporific, epoch, tundra, fiat, idiotproof, miscellany, metaphysics, cryptozoology, dysphoria and 856 more...
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aozuas's Words
sense data, hyperreality, brouhaha, ibid, apophenia, fnord, lackadaisical, schadenfreude, bildungsroman, ready-made, readymade, tergiversar and 654 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for metaphysics.
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