Metaphysics Essay Research Paper Metaphysics

Metaphysics Essay, Research Paper Metaphysics ?All men by nature desire to know?(p.51). So does Aristotle begin The Metaphysics, a book, or rather a collection of lectures. It is the book of the greatest importance for an understanding of the philosophy of Aristotle, and has had a tremendous influence on the European thought. The word Metaphysics derives from the Greek meta ta physika (?after the things of nature?). In medieval and modern philosophy metaphysics has also been taken to mean the study of things transcending nature. ?That is, existing separately from nature and having more intrinsic reality and value than the things of nature- giving meta a philosophical meaning that it did not posses during the period of Classical Greece?(p.153). This simply means that in ancient times the word metaphysics only meant ?after physics?, but as time went on it took on a philosophical meaning– things that go beyond mere physical attributes. The term has had a religious and a spiritual connotation and refers generally to the field of philosophy dealing with various things and their state of being. Metaphysic is thus, according to Aristotle ? Wisdom par excellence? and the philosopher or lover of wisdom is he who desires knowledge about the cause and nature of Reality. Thusly wisdom deals with the principles and causes of things, that means it is an abstract science, not dealing with the senses. ? Sense perception is common to all and therefore easy and no mark on Wisdom? (p.169). But, though it is the most abstracted of sciences, it is according to Aristotle the most exact of the sciences. Therefore metaphysics deals with knowledge at the highest level of abstraction. It is the study of the most basic element of motion. It is willing to look at the existence of ourselves with a questioning eye. To Aristotle metaphysics was the study of Being and its principles and causes. There were a few people in the classical period that contributed to the development metaphysics, among them were Parmenides, Plato and of course the father of metaphysics, Aristotle. The history of metaphysics goes far back to the sixth century BC. It starts with the Ionic cosmologists wondering about the physical universe, the matter and substance of its make up, and the laws present in nature. We first must begin with Promenades, since most of the concepts seen in Aristotle?s writing are plainly visible in his writings. Parmenides believed that there are principles, for example, noncontradiction and a principle of sufficient reason, also, ?what necessity impelled it, if it did spring from Nothing, to be produced later or earlier? Thus it must be absolutely, or nothing at all? (p.169). Philosophy, was therefore conceived as a deductive science like mathematics for instance. It is also a contradictory contrast between apparent reality and true reality. Like the natural scientist, the metaphysician gives an account of the universe; unlike the scientist, he does not base his account on observations and experiments. His account is based primarily on ?analysis of concept; if he does appeal to the evidence of the senses, he appeals to something that is familiar, not to new evidence that he is adding to knowledge? (160). Parmenides believed that typical characteristics of metaphysics were distinct philosophical inquiry. It is the conception of philosophy which attempts to understand the universe by means of logical investigation, appealing to meanings of terms rather those not base his account on observations and experiments. It is the conception of philosophy which attempts to understand the universe by means of logical investigation, things we see and touch; moreover they are considered to be the source of existence we see and touch, like ? a man is the cause of his shadow or of his reflection in a mirror or in a pool of water?(p32). One can discern metaphysics as an independent method in the works of Plato, but should keep in mind that in early Greek thought ?Wisdom? was an observation of the true picture of cosmos. This is why philosophical method did not differ from the scientific method. In a score of his dialogues, Plato gave a description of the highest sort of knowledge, rising from empirical reality to the nonmaterial ideas following the hierarchical latter of concepts, and descending back to the world of the senses. Plato?s metaphysics means the theory of Ideas, which are present on Pheado, and have had a lot of influence in history of thought. Plato argues ?for the existence of mind or soul as a kind of entity distinct from, and in some sense prior to, physical objects? (34). This is evident in Pheado, where the theory of Ideas can be used to prove the immortality of the soul. Plato believed that bodies cannot move themselves whereas the soul can. Thales and early Greek philosophers busied themselves with material cause, trying to discover ultimate meaning of things, but others believed that there was more to thought and life than material cause. Empedocles and Anaxagoras saw that no material element can be the reason why objects manifest beauty and goodness, and so came to the conclusion of the activity of the Mind. In history of philosophy the term metaphysics was used as a synonym of philosophy, and was introduced in the first century BC. by a man (Adronic of Rodos) who systematized the works of Aristotle. Aristotle is the direct source of what metaphysics is. He constructed a classification of the sciences in which the first in meaning and value place was occupied by the science of ?being? as such. Unlike the ?second philosophy? or physics the ?first philosophy? ( called consequently metaphysics) considers being independently from concrete unity of matter and form. It is not connected with the subjectivity of man nor with human activity. He raised questions, which in short were whether or not ?metaphysics is a superscience proving the assumptions made by the special sciences, and also the assumptions it itself uses ?whether, in short , it is logically self contained body of knowledge contrasting with the logically incomplete special sciences? (p.155). Aristotle thought that metaphysics is less the capstone of a hierarchy of sciences, than a discussion of problems left over by the special sciences. He believed metaphysics to be a science which explains things as they were already known to be true, rather than as giving reasons for the assumptions we make in sciences and everyday life, thereby supporting the meaning of science and common sense. For Aristotle the most vital question of metaphysics was the concepts of being and unity. Questions such as ?Are being and unity properties of things, or are they entities or substances of some kind?? ?If being and unity are things in their own right, what kind of things are they?? (152-153) These questions are brought up in Plato?s Parmenides and Sophist. Metaphysics according to Aristotle was the most valuable of sciences, existing no as a purpose of human life and the source of enjoyment. Aristotle?s analysis of being is the prime theme in metaphysics, it is his account of the universe He believed that there are large, but calculable number of things that for the most part belong to classes, for example, plant and animal species. In most cases the individual members of these classes are born and die, but the classes themselves do not change. The main questions ?What is being?? and ?What is an individual?? became the prime focus of Aristotle. A horse, a man, a house are classified as such, and an individual, is this the distinguishing feature of his/hers classification. Aristotle himself believed that these classification or labels were earned through experiences, and thought that the groups and classes of things are there to be studied by the act of observation. From the point of his logic, ?to be ? meant for him something that could be accurately defined, and that could therefore become the subject of discourse. ?To be?, as Aristotle saw, always meant to be something. Hence all existence is individual and has a determined nature. ? All categories Aristotle dealt with in his logical works, categories such as quality, relation, posture, place, etc….. presuppose some subject to which these predicates can apply? (p.171). The subject to which all the categories apply Aristotle called substances. To be, then, is to be a particular kind of substance. Also ?to be? means ?to be the substance as the product of a dynamic process.? In this way, metaphysics is concerned with Being and its causes. Aristotle also takes up the questions in metaphysics beyond those of physical nature, but moves into the mind and the spirit. Another part of metaphysics that must be analyzed is Aristotle?s thought on theology. Aristotle tells about three kinds of substances, those that are sensible and perishable, those that are sensible but not perishable, and those that are neither sensible nor perishable. The first class includes plants and animals, the second class includes the ?heavenly bodies? the third includes the rational soul in man and also God. The main argument for God is the First cause: there must be something which originates motion, and this something must itself be unmoved, and eternal, substance and actuality. The object of desire and the object of thought, Aristotle states, cause movement in this way with out themselves being in motion, so God produces motion by being loved. God is a pure thought; for thought is what is best. ? Life also belongs to God; for the actuality of thought is life, and God is that actuality; and God God?s self dependent actuality is life most good and eternal.? (75). The conception of an unmoved mover (God) is a difficult one, but to understand what Aristotle really means, one must understand his thought on the four causes?material, formal, efficient, and final. ? Let us take again the man who is making a statue. The material cause of the statue is the marble, the formal cause is the essence of the statue to be produced, the efficient cause the contact of the chisel with the marble and the final cause the end that the sculptor has in view? (p.155). The unmoved mover may be regarded as the final cause; it supplies a purpose for change, which is an evolution towards the likeness with God. God exists eternal, as a pure thought, happiness and complete self-fulfillment. Thus God is the final cause of all activity. The Neoplatonists in the late classical period continued to investigate the concept of metaphysics, and were of great importance in medieval philosophy since they formed a link between medieval and ancient philosophy. The main figure was Plotinus (c. 204-270), who combined metaphysics with mysticism. The mystical and religious side of metaphysics became even more popular when Neoplatonists such as Iamblichus and Proclus came into the picture, and gave a more religious connotation to its meaning. Plotinus? philosophy begins with the assumptions that being and unity are properties that things have. The Plotinus? assumption is that properties are entities , ?the theory of categories or types of predictions is a theory of kinds of predicates: genus, species, difference, property, and accident? (p.155). These kind of predicates are distinguished from individuals, and ?this account of predication makes a distinction between thing and property peripheral to metaphysics? (p.154). Soon one witnesses that Neoplatonism takes on a religious interpretation as we move to the middle ages. Classical metaphysics was the standard of metaphysics in general. However during the history of West European philosophy the evaluation of metaphysical knowledge, as well as the place of metaphysics in philosophical changed. The medieval theologists (scholastics), believed tha metaphysics can cognise God, and this can be done by analogy. Medieval metaphysics was a detailed interpretation of problems such as freedom, necessity, the nature of general concepts etc.., and essentially this concept enriched the conceptual and terminological meaning of philosophy. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, new ways of thinking in metaphysics were being prepared as the works by Aristotle were translated from Greek into Latin. The man who took the concept of metaphysics to the next level was St.Thomas Aquinas. He attempted to explain the destinations between essence and existence, necessary and contingent existence. For Aquinas common sense things like a horse and houses do exist in a literal and straight forward sense apart from human observation, and also apart from God. He believed that ordinary things we experience are outside of nature, they fall into the hands of God, who exists by his own nature, and God is immaterial, and hence is one and unchanging. Aquinas believed that human beings exist in their own right, by virtue of a delegated power. Well as one comes to conclusion, one must recap on the concept and the origin of metaphysics. Metaphysics is a intricate branch of philosophy that tries to analyze the nature of rarity. It literally means ?after the physics?, and so rightly named because Aristotle?s book on the subject followed his physics, dealing with nature of the ordinary world, which in Classical Greek is physike. The actual definition of metaphysics is ? a division of philosophy that concerned with fundamental nature of reality and being and includes ontology– study of what is outside objective experience, cosmology and often epistemology? (Webster?s 94). Through the years metaphysical theories fell into two kinds: that view everything in nature as the result of Mind and those that view the Mind as the result of mechanisms of Nature. One can understand metaphysics as a philosophically of the world distinct from a scientific understanding. Metaphysics is a method which is opposite to that of dialectics, it is the science of supersensible principles and foundations of Being BIBLIOGRAPHY Bertrand, Russle. A History of Western Philosophy. Simon and Schuster; New York: 1945. Coplescton, Fredrick. A History of Philosophy. Image Books; New York: 1962. Durant,Will. The Story of Philosophy. Simon and Schuster; New York: 1926. Hutchins, Robert. Great Books of the Western World. William Benton; Chicago: 1952. Magill, Frank. Masterpiece?s of Wold?s Philosophy. Harpers and Row; New York: 1961.