![]() ![]() Andronicus was looking to categorize the works that came after Aristotle’s writings on ‘Physics’, and thus simply grouped them with the title ‘After Physics’ - or, ‘Metaphysics’. ![]() ‘Metaphysics’ was actually coined by Andronicus of Rhodes, a bibliographer of Aristotle’s work in the first century BC. ![]() We might think based on the word itself that it refers to some ‘meta’ version of physics, but that's not quite accurate. So what is metaphysics, exactly? Like most metaphysical questions, that’s not an easy one to answer. Metaphysics is a dark ocean without shores or lighthouse, strewn with many a philosophic wreck. As 18th-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant puts it: These are just a few of the questions posed by the oft-derided, mind-melting realm of metaphysics. What is the fundamental nature of reality? What is time? What is space? Is there a God? Is the world around us ‘real’? What is change? Do numbers exist? What is causation, and can there be such a thing as a ‘first cause’? Why is reality like it is? What does it mean for something to exist? Why does anything exist? ![]()
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