Metaphysical Period
Metaphysics or the “first philosophy” (? ????? ?????????, philosophia prima), is the science of supersensory principles and the principles of life. Also used as a completely modern synonym for “philosophy”. The term is introduced by Andronicus of Rhodes who systematized the writings of Aristotle.
Metaphysics is divided into: the teaching about the most existing (ontology), the essence of the world (cosmology), the man (philosophical anthropology, existentialism), and the existence and nature of God (theology). The subjects of metaphysics, in particular, are: being, nothing, freedom, immortality, God, life, power, matter, truth, soul, formation, spirit (the world), Nature. Knowledge of these issues determines the spiritual aspect of man and is thus, in the words of Kant, “ineradicable need’ for human.
According to Aristotle, the first metaphysician was Thales. “His concept of Arche or the source, first principle, or substratum was that of moisture, which is frequently translated as “water”. Other Miletians, such as Anaximander and Anaximene, also had a monistic conception of Arche. For Thales, the cosmos had a harmonious structure, and thus was subject to rational understanding. Parmenides of Elea held that the multiplicity of existing things, their changing forms and motion, are but an appearance of a single eternal reality (“Being”), thus giving rise to the Parmenidean principle that “all is one”. From this concept of Being, he went on to say that all claims of change or of non-Being are illogical. Because he introduced the method of basing claims about appearances on a logical concept of Being, he is considered one of the founders of metaphysics.” (Encyclopedia Britannica