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
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