Metaphysics

• Metaphysics


  The study of the nature of reality
• Metaphysical Questions


  • What is reality?
  • Can we control our destiny?
  • Do we have immortal souls?
  • Is there a supreme being(s)?
• Plato's Allegory of the Cave


  • Prisoners' reality was the shadows in the cave
  • Prisoners didn't know the reality outside of the cave was true reality
• Is it possible my current reality isn't really real?
• Metaphysics


  • The philosophy which seeks to answer questions about existence
  • Study of questions about the world left unanswered by the natural sciences
  • Such as those regarding First Causes; Laws of the Universe; Mind/Body; Free Will/Determinism
• Metaphysics was first used by Aristotle who wrote his books Physics (concerning the physical world) and Metaphysics (beyond the physical world)
• Principle of non-contradiction


  • No real being can both be and not be at the same time
  • Ex. either God exists OR does not exist - God can't BOTH exist and not exist at the same time
• Principle of sufficient reason


  • Everything must have a reason or a cause
  • It is not possible for something to be its own cause (otherwise it would violate the Principle of non-contradiction)
  • Understood either in terms of reasons or causes
  • Ex. For Socrates to have existed requires that his parents first existed
• Materialism vs. Dualism


  • Materialism: Humans are animals, and brains are chemical systems, no soul, humans are like computers
  • Dualism: Mental is separate from physical, Mind and Soul can exist before the body, and survive bodily death, believe in the afterlife, and the paranormal
• Monism has 1 reality, Dualism has 2 realities
• Metaphysics


  Aims to answer questions regarding existence
• Questions metaphysics aims to answer


  • First causes
  • Laws of the universe
  • Relationship between the mind and body
  • Free will vs. determinism
• First causes


  The self-created being (i.e., God) to which every chain of causes must ultimately go back
• The term "first causes" was used by Greek thinkers like Aristotle which referred to God as the "unmoved mover" who started all the motion in the universe
• The Christian formation of the argument for the existence of God as the first cause came from the medieval theologian St. Thomas Aquinas, who was influenced by Aristotle
• Scientific laws


  • Always apply to a physical system under repeated conditions
  • Imply a causal relationship involving the elements of the system
  • Based on repeated observations
  • Make predictions
  • True, apply everywhere, stable, often expressed mathematically
  • Relative to different disciplines
• Mind-body problem


  How is the mind and body related?
• Theories of mind-body relationship


  • Dualism - world contains 2 different types of "stuff" mental (mind) and physical stuff
  • Monism - the world is made of one type of "stuff" mental OR physical
  • Idealism - the world consists entirely of minds and mental states
  • Physicalism/Materialism - the world consists entirely of the physical, there is no nonmaterial minds
• Free will


  Ability to choose between different actions not by external causes
• Determinism


  Assumption everything that happens has a cause in the observable world
• The principle of non-contradiction states that no being can be and not be at the same time
• Sufficient reason


  • Every being has the sufficient reason for existence
  • Everything has a reason for its existence
  • It is not possible for something to be its own cause
  • Every being that does not possess the sufficient reason for its own existence must have a cause outside itself
• What is the String Theory?
• Meaning of life


  A fundamental question in philosophy that involves judging whether life is or is not worth living, and can shape a person's entire outlook on life
• Multiple views on the meaning of life


  • Nihilists
  • Friedrich Nietzsche
  • Theistic approach
  • Al-Ghazali
  • Non-theistic approach
  • Simone de Beauvoir
• Nihilists


  • Argue life is meaningless
  • All human striving is useless
  • Life is pointless
  • There's an attitude of despair
  • Whether something matters is an illusion
  • Some even argue that human existence is an error and is pointless
• Friedrich Nietzsche


  German philosopher who criticized traditional European morality and religion, believed people had evolved enough to no longer need theology/religion to morally guide them, and encouraged people to think freely and set their own ethics and morals
• Friedrich Nietzsche: '"Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger"'
• Nietzsche's proclamation "God is dead"


  Society no longer needed theology because the Enlightenment had eradicated the need for it
• Theistic approach


  • Argues that human life is meaningful because a supreme being(s) has given people the gift of life
  • Life has purpose
  • Meaning of life is part of God's plan
  • Without God life would be meaningless
  • Some argue human reasoning is weak to guide people in the right direction, only faith can lead people to God
  • Others argue reason plays a role in guiding people to God
  • People often accept their problems/accomplishments as part of God's plan
• Al-Ghazali


  Medieval Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic who argued the spiritual life in Islam begins with the inner warfare against the ego, and that it is only through fighting the lower self can humans really understand the purpose of life – to connect to God
• Theism


  • Comes from the Greek word theos = god
  • Theism is the study of god(s)
  • Theists view god as perfect, all powerful, all loving personal supreme being worthy of worship
  • This supreme being was present at the creation of the universe and can intervene at any moment by miracles and revelations
• Monotheism


  • Belief in one supreme, perfect, all powerful creator
  • Such religions refer to god as having "human like" characteristics ex. mind, will, ability to communicate, emotions like love and anger
• Soul


  The spiritual "breath" that gives the living organism life
• Pre-Socratic beliefs about the soul


  • The soul is lifeless when it departed the body
  • It retired into Hades (Greek God of the underworld) with no hope of returning to a body
• Plato's description of the psyche (life-principle AKA soul)


  • The essence of a person which decides how to behave
  • Exists after death, soul can think
  • Continually reborn (metempsychosis AKA reincarnation) in different bodies
• Platonic Soul


  • Consists of three/tripartite parts: logos (mind or reason), thymos (emotion, spiritedness or masculine), eros (appetitive, desire, or feminine)
  • Logos regulates the other parts of the soul
  • Plato compares the three parts of the soul to the social system - each part must contribute so the whole functions well
• Aristotle's definition of the soul


  • The "first actuality" of a natural body
  • Part of the physical body
  • The main activity of a living thing constitutes its soul
• Aristotle's 3 types of souls

  • Vegetative (plants develop and grow)
  • Sensitive (animals can move and feel sensations)
  • Rational (humans can use reason and socially interact, capacity to learn language)
• Ibn Sina's (Avicenna) view on the soul


  • The soul is immortal, part of intellect
  • Self-consciousness is not dependent on any physical thing like a body
  • The soul is a substance
  • Supported Aristotle's idea of the soul originating from the heart