How well do you know metaphysics?

Understanding Metaphysics: Exploring the Relationship Between Physics and Philosophy

• Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that studies what there is and how it is.
• The word "metaphysics" originated from the ancient Greek word "meta," meaning "after," and was used to describe the books listed after those on physics in Aristotle's works.
• Natural science and metaphysics ask similar questions, but natural science bases its answers on observation, experiment, measurement, and calculation, while metaphysics bases its answers on armchair reflection.
• Metaphysics concerns aspects of reality that transcend experience, whereas natural science investigates the world of experience.
• There is a debate about whether metaphysics is just lazy physics or if it deals with aspects of reality beyond the scope of natural science.
• Naturalism is the view that everything is natural, but it is not the kind of theory that the usual methods of natural science are designed to assess.
• The metaphysics of numbers is important to understanding the role of mathematics in science.
• Margaret Thatcher's claim that "there is no such thing as society" is an example of a metaphysical claim that concerns what kinds of things exist.
• Reductionist and anti-reductionist views are typical metaphysical disputes, and they concern what kinds of things exist.
• Metaphysics is concerned with questions about what kind of thing we are, such as whether we are a human animal, an immortal soul, a stream of consciousness, or nothing.
• Metaphysics is often dismissed as pointless or meaningless, but it remains an important field of study for understanding the nature of reality.
• Timothy Williamson is a prominent philosopher who has written extensively on metaphysics and logic.