metaphysics

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: met=a=phys=ics

CIDE DICTIONARY

metaphysics, n. [Gr. after those things which relate to external nature, after physics, fr. beyond, after + relating to external nature, natural, physical, fr. nature: cf. F. métaphysique. See Physics. The term was first used by the followers of Aristotle as a name for that part of his writings which came after, or followed, the part which treated of physics.].

•  The science of real as distinguished from phenomenal being; ontology; also, the science of being, with reference to its abstract and universal conditions, as distinguished from the science of determined or concrete being; the science of the conceptions and relations which are necessarily implied as true of every kind of being; philosophy in general; first principles, or the science of first principles.  [1913 Webster]

  " Metaphysics is distinguished as general and special. General metaphysics is the science of all being as being. Special metaphysics is the science of one kind of being; as, the metaphysics of chemistry, of morals, or of politics. According to Kant, a systematic exposition of those notions and truths, the knowledge of which is altogether independent of experience, would constitute the science of metaphysics."  [1913 Webster]

  "Commonly, in the schools, called metaphysics, as being part of the philosophy of Aristotle, which hath that for title; but it is in another sense: for there it signifieth as much as “books written or placed after his natural philosophy.” But the schools take them for “books of supernatural philosophy;” for the word metaphysic will bear both these senses."  [1913 Webster]

  "Now the science conversant about all such inferences of unknown being from its known manifestations, is called ontology, or metaphysics proper."  [1913 Webster]

  "Metaphysics are [is] the science which determines what can and what can not be known of being, and the laws of being, a priori."  [1913 Webster]
•  The scientific knowledge of mental phenomena; mental philosophy; psychology.  [1913 Webster]

  "Metaphysics, in whatever latitude the term be taken, is a science or complement of sciences exclusively occupied with mind."  [1913 Webster]

  "Whether, after all,
  A larger metaphysics might not help
  Our physics."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

metaphysics, n.pl. (usu. treated as sing.)
1 the theoretical philosophy of being and knowing.
2 the philosophy of mind.
3 colloq. abstract or subtle talk; mere theory.

Derivative

metaphysician n. metaphysicize v.intr.

Etymology

ME metaphysic f. OF metaphysique f. med.L metaphysica ult. f. Gk ta meta ta phusika the things after the Physics, from the sequence of Aristotle's works

THESAURUS

metaphysics

aesthetics, axiology, casuistry, cosmology, epistemology, ethics, existentialism, first philosophy, gnosiology, hyperphysics, logic, mental philosophy, moral philosophy, ontology, phenomenology, philosophastry, philosophic doctrine, philosophic system, philosophic theory, philosophical inquiry, philosophical speculation, philosophy, school of philosophy, school of thought, science of being, sophistry, the first philosophy, theory of beauty, theory of knowledge, value theory

ROGET THESAURUS

metaphysics

Intellect

N intellect, mind, understanding, reason, thinking principle, rationality, cogitative faculties, cognitive faculties, discursive faculties, reasoning faculties, intellectual faculties, faculties, senses, consciousness, observation, percipience, intelligence, intellection, intuition, association of ideas, instinct, conception, judgment, wits, parts, capacity, intellectuality, genius, brains, cognitive powers, intellectual powers, wit, ability, wisdom, Vernunft, Verstand, soul, spirit, ghost, inner man, heart, breast, bosom, penetralia mentis, divina particula aurae, heart's core, the Absolute, psyche, subliminal consciousness, supreme principle, brain, organ of thought, seat of thought, sensorium, sensory, head, headpiece, pate, noddle, noggin, skull, scull, pericranium, cerebrum, cranium, brainpan, sconce, upper story, central processing unit, CPU, arithmetic and logical unit, ALU, metaphysics, psychics, psychology, ideology, mental philosophy, moral philosophy, philosophy of the mind, pneumatology, phrenology, craniology, cranioscopy, ideality, idealism, transcendentalism, spiritualism, immateriality, universal concept, universal conception, metaphysician, psychologist, intellectual, mental, rational, subjective, metaphysical, nooscopic, spiritual, ghostly, psychical, psychological, cerebral, animastic, brainy, hyperphysical, superphysical, subconscious, subliminal, immaterial, endowed with reason, in petto, ens rationis, frons est animi janua, locos y ninos dicen la verdad, mens sola loco non exulat, my mind is my kingdom, stern men with empires in their brains, the mind, the music breathing from her face, thou living ray of intellectual Fire.