Metaphysics

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Plato and Aristotle. Aristotle is usually thought as the creator of metaphysics.
Plato and Aristotle. Aristotle is usually thought as the creator of metaphysics.

Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy and is the study of the world. It is the basis of physics and other sciences. Unlike other sciences however metaphysics asks very basic philosophical questions and does not look at the world directly.

A physicist might ask 'how does the world work?' but a metaphysical philosopher would ask 'what is the world?'. Often metaphysical questions are questions about ourselves, and how we see and feel the world. They can also be questions about what might be true and what could not be true. By answering these questions metaphysical philosophers hope they can understand the world in a way that people who do not ask them cannot. Many metaphysical philosophers are also physicists, such as Aristotle and Rene Descartes.

In some areas metaphysical philosophers can ask questions and find answers but physicists cannot, such as the study of time or God. In other areas metaphysics is not very useful, such as finding out what things are made of.