In the words of the French philosopher Descartes, “The whole of philosophy is like a tree: the roots are metaphysics, the trunk is physics, and the branches that issue from the trunk are all the other sciences . . ."
But in what soil do the roots of the tree of philosophy have their hold? What are the nourishing elements for the roots and the tree? Or in other words, what is the basis of metaphysics, and what is metaphysics itself?
Metaphysics thinks about beings as beings, and beings as such are in sight. Metaphysical representation owes this sight to the light of Being but this light does not come within the range of metaphysical domain. In other words, metaphysics inquire about the Being, which is the source of this light, but the light
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But how it manifests itself, it remains obscure. Being in its revelatory essence, i.e., in its truth, is not recalled. Nevertheless, when metaphysics gives answers to its question concerning beings as such, metaphysics speaks out of the unnoticed revealedness of Being. The truth of Being may thus be called the ground in which metaphysics, as the root of the tree of philosophy, is kept and from which it is nourished.
Metaphysics, as the root of the tree of philosophy, sends all nourishment to the trunk and branches. The tree of philosophy grows out of the soil in which metaphysics is rooted. The ground is where the root of the tree lives, but the growth of the tree is never able to absorb this soil in a manner that it makes it disappear in the tree as part of the tree. Instead, the root loses itself in the soil where it forgets itself for the sake of the tree.
Metaphysics, since it represents beings as only beings, does not recall Being itself. Philosophy does not concentrate on its ground. Insofar as a philosopher sets out to experience the ground of metaphysics and attempts to recall the truth of Being itself instead of merely representing beings as beings, his thinking leaves metaphysics. From the point of view of metaphysics, such thinking goes back into the ground of
One of the most talked about topics is the metaphysical component. In which one sees the natural and sees how things work even when we are children. For example, imagine a dog, a cat, and a kangaroo in television and we set a group in our mind that tells that that these are in the category of animals, and successively other things as well. In my field of study, it’s in extreme importance to set the idea that what we
The pursuit of truth: Epistemology provides understanding for the reader to gain insight to the way that humans process and react to truth. Epistemology is the pursuit of intellectual virtue. It wants to provide an evidentiary basis for belief, rather than one of just opinion. Entwistle then brings up another important topic which is Metaphysics. Metaphysics can be defined as the philosophical investigation of the nature, constitution and stature of reality. Philosophical anthropology attempts to validate assumptions made by theologians and psychologists about human nature and behavior (Entwistle, pp119).
Martin Heidegger stated, criticizing the “wrong” path that western philosophy deviated to, that people understood “being” only in the superficial sense. The advancements in mathematics and natural sciences along the millennia always pre-assumed that being was a known phenomenon and never bothered to explore its true nature; bypassing the herculean task, we never delved into what “Ontos” really
24. What we call Metaphysics, Aristotle called "first philosophy" because it considers the most basic questions of existence.
This question defines the nature of Aristotle’s inquiries, at least for a large part of the Metaphysics, and it thus offers a fourth account of the study or science of metaphysics.“The science of first principles, the study of being qua being, theology, the investigation into substance – four compatible descriptions of the same discipline? Perhaps there is no one discipline which can be identified as Aristotelian Metaphysics? And perhaps this thought should not disturb us: we need only recall that the metaphysics was composed by Andronicus rather than by Aristotle. But the four descriptions do have at least one thing in common: they are dark and obscure” (Ross, 1996, p174).
Hasker, W. (1983). Metaphysics: Constructing a World View. (1st ed.). Downers Grove: IL: InterVarsity Press.
What is Philosophy? Well, by conventional definition, Philosophy is the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct. This, while providing a contextual definition of the word philosophy, just scratches the surface of its actual meaning. In this essay we will attempt to answer “What is Philosophy?” by discussing the works of Plato and Rene Descartes. First, we begin by summarizing and comparing the theme of their works for similarities so as to better form a definition. In order to begin answering the question, “What is Philosophy?” we must comprehend each author’s method, themes, and goals throughout their works.
Throughout time, there have been deep misconceptions on who the fathers of philosophy and greatest contributors to civilization. In the 1954 book, Stolen Legacy, George James, a Guyanese historian and author, argued that the highly acclaimed Greek philosophy actually originated in ancient Egypt. James’ arguments on Ancient Egypt being the basis of Greek philosophy will be discussed as it relates to the goals of Egyptian theory of salvation and Egyptian Mystery system.
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A metaparadigm is a concept that is extremely general, one that serves to define an entire world of thought. "Meta" means "that which is behind," in Greek, and refers to that which under-girds something else, serving as a conceptual basis. In her seminal (1984, cited in Slevin) work, "Analysis and Evaluation of Conceptual
Philosophy can be viewed in so many different ways, with so many different aspects looked at and critiqued. The simple statement, “eventually the sun will burn out and the Earth will cease to exist” can produce a rousing philosophical conversation. When having a philosophical discussion the people ‘philosophers’ involved must take a look at all
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