metaphysics
n. the branch of philosophy that deals with the question of the nature of ultimate reality; as such, it is considered to be the most abstract and speculative branch of philosophy. Metaphysics was the founding project of Greek philosophy and thus of the Western intellectual tradition as a whole. The term derives from the Greek, meaning “above (or beyond) the physical.” Early metaphysical philosophy, most notably that of Plato (c. 427–c. 347 bce), suggested a reality above the physical world that accounts for and gives rise to physical reality (see Platonic idealism). Later metaphysical conceptions have emphasized, as the ultimate foundation of reality, constructs as varied as mind, spirit, abstract principles, and physical matter. Since the time of René Descartes, the main focus of Western philosophy has shifted from metaphysics to epistemology, the study of the nature and limitations of
knowledge; this is largely owing to a recognition that meaningful answers to questions of ultimate reality depend upon the working out of criteria (an epistemology) by which such answers can be judged as true. Nevertheless, any scholarly discipline, including psychology, that makes a claim of discovering or explaining the ultimate nature or origin of a phenomenon may be said to be engaged in metaphysics. —metaphysical
adj.