METAPHYSICS

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of consciousness and the relationship between mind and matter, between substance and attribute, and between potentially and actuality. Metaphysics studies questions related to what is for something to exist and types of existence there are. Metaphysics seeks to answer, in an abstract and fully general manner, the questions what is ultimately there? and what is it like? Topics of metaphysical investigation include existence, objects and their properties. Metaphysics is considered one of the four main branches of philosophy, along with epistemology, logic and ethics. Metaphysics relates to abstract subjects such as form and matter and the existence of mathematical objects and the cosmos. Metaphysics is a synthesis of the naturalism of empirical science, with a critical enquire into language, ontology and epistemology. At the center of metaphysics lies three questions: What is existence and what sorts of things exist in the world? How can things continue to exist and yet undergo the change we see about us in the natural world? And how can this world be understood?