Question by Broker: Is metaphysical/metaphysics something that supernatural like a power or a spiritual thing?
What exactly is metaphysics.
Best answer:
Answer by Winterwolf
Metaphysics investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science. Cosmology and ontology are traditional branches of metaphysics. It is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world.[1] Someone who studies metaphysics would be called either a “metaphysician”[2] or a “metaphysicist”.[3]
The word derives from the Greek words ???? (metá) (meaning “beyond” or “after”) and ?????? (physiká) (meaning “physical”), “physical” referring to those works on matter by Aristotle in antiquity. The prefix meta- (“beyond”) was attached to the chapters in Aristotle’s work that physically followed after the chapters on “physics”, in posthumously edited collections. Aristotle himself did not call these works Metaphysics. Aristotle called some of the subjects treated there “first philosophy”.
A central branch of metaphysics is ontology, the investigation into what types of things there are in the world and what relations these things bear to one another. The metaphysician also attempts to clarify the notions by which people understand the world, including existence, objecthood, property, space, time, causality, and possibility.
Before the development of modern science, scientific questions were addressed as a part of metaphysics known as “natural philosophy”; the term “science” itself meant “knowledge” of epistemological origin. The scientific method, however, made natural philosophy an empirical and experimental activity unlike the rest of philosophy, and by the end of the eighteenth century it had begun to be called “science” in order to distinguish it from philosophy. Thereafter, metaphysics became the philosophical enquiry of a non-empirical character into the nature of existence.
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“Meta” means “high’ or “above.” Metaphysics deal with things that are outside of or on a higher level than the physical world. This would include supernatural beings but metaphysics isn’t limited to such things. For instance, I took a class on metaphysics a couple of semesters ago and some topics covered incuded the ontology of time and determinism.
“New Age” metaphysics is something like supernaturalism. This New Age site uses a different dictionary that I do, but it fits New Age thinking: relating to the transcendent or supersensible, it says. http://www.mountainvalleycenter.com/metaphysicalnewage.htm
In classic metaphysics, it is neither transcendent of anything, nor supersensible, whatever that means.
“Metaphysics is the foundation of philosophy. Without an explanation or an interpretation of the world around us, we would be helpless to deal with reality. We could not feed ourselves, or act to preserve our lives. The degree to which our metaphysical worldview is correct is the degree to which we are able to comprehend the world, and act accordingly. Without this firm foundation, all knowledge becomes suspect. Any flaw in our view of reality will make it more difficult to live.” From one my favorite philosophy sites because it makes things easy to understand. http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/Metaphysics_Main.html
Metaphysics deals with the nature of reality.