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The beginning of Aristotle's Metaphysics, one of the foundational texts of the discipline. Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of human ...
Philosophical theology – branch of theology and metaphysics that uses philosophical methods in developing or analyzing theological concepts. Natural theology – branch of theology and metaphysics the object of which is the nature of the gods, or of the one supreme God. In monotheistic religions, this principally involves arguments about the ...
A key topic in metaphysics concerns the question of whether reality only consists of physical things like matter and energy. Alternative suggestions are that mental entities (such as souls and experiences) and abstract entities (such as numbers) exist apart from physical things. Another topic in metaphysics concerns the problem of identity.
It is not universally accepted that there is a clear boundary between metaphysics and ontology. Some philosophers use both terms as synonyms. [11] The etymology of the word ontology traces back to the ancient Greek terms ὄντως (ontos, meaning ' being ') and λογία (logia, meaning ' study of '), literally, ' the study of being '.
Many of Aristotle's works are extremely compressed, and many scholars believe that in their current form, they are likely lecture notes. [2] Subsequent to the arrangement of Aristotle's works by Andronicus of Rhodes in the first century BC, a number of his treatises were referred to as the writings "after ("meta") the Physics" [b], the origin of the current title for the collection Metaphysics.
In philosophy and specifically metaphysics, the theory of Forms, theory of Ideas, [1] [2] [3] Platonic idealism, or Platonic realism is a theory widely credited to the Classical Greek philosopher Plato. The theory suggests that the physical world is not as real or true as "Forms".
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Meta (from the μετά, meta, meaning 'after' or 'beyond') is an adjective meaning 'more comprehensive' or 'transcending'. [1]In modern nomenclature, the prefix meta can also serve as a prefix meaning self-referential, as a field of study or endeavor (metatheory: theory about a theory; metamathematics: mathematical theories about mathematics; meta-axiomatics or meta-axiomaticity: axioms about ...