metaphysicsn.

Brit.

/ˌmɛtəˈfɪzɪks/, U.S.

/ˈˌmɛdəˈˌfɪzɪks/

Forms: 1500s–1600s metaphisickes, 1500s–1600s metaphisiks, 1500s–1600s metaphysickes, 1500s– metaphysics, 1600s metaphysiques, 1600s–1700s metaphisicks, 1600s–1800s metaphysicks.

Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: metaphysic n.¹

Etymology: < metaphysic n.¹: see -ic suffix 2.

With singular or (occasionally) plural agreement.

I. Philosophical and related uses.

a. The branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things or reality, including questions about being, substance, time and space, causation, change, and identity (which are presupposed in the special sciences but do not belong to any one of them); theoretical philosophy as the ultimate science of being and knowing. Also figurative.Formerly usually preceded by the (cf. mathematics n. 1).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > metaphysics > [noun]

metaphysica1387

theology1390

philosophy1531

ultramundane1549

metaphysicals1550

supernaturals1562

metaphysics1569

1569 J. Sanford tr. H. C. Agrippa Of Vanitie Artes & Sci. liii. f. 70 (title) Of the Metaphisickes, that is, thinges supernaturall and the Science of them.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) i. i. 37 The Mathematickes, and the Metaphysickes Fall to them as you finde your stomacke serues you.

a1620 M. Fotherby Atheomastix (1622) ii. xiv. §2. 356 The Metaphysickes, considering the pure essence of things.

1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iv. xlvi. 376 If such Metaphysiques..be not Vain Philosophy, there was never any.

a1658 J. Cleveland Clievelandi Vindiciæ (1677) 13 Call her the Metaphysicks of her Sex, And say she tortures Wits, as Quartans vex Physicians.

1697 J. Sergeant Solid Philos. 459 Hence is demonstrated, that Metaphysicks is absolutely the Highest Science.

1718 J. Chamberlayne tr. B. Nieuwentyt Relig. Philosopher I. Ep. to Rdr. p. i I have not made use of the Metaphysicks.

1739 D. Hume Treat. Human Nature I. iv. 332 So far from being able by our senses merely to determine this question, we must have recourse to the most profound metaphysics to give a satisfactory answer to it.

1775 J. Harris Philos. Arrangem. xvii. 409 Metaphysics are properly conversant about primary and internal Causes.

a1832 F. D. Maurice Moral & Metaphysical Philos. in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) II. 545/1 It is impossible to follow the track of any great moral question without entering into the region of pure Metaphysics.

1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess iii. 61 ‘How,’ she cried, ‘you love The metaphysics!’

1865 J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. 27 347 In repudiating metaphysics, M. Comte did not interdict himself from analysing or criticising any of the abstract conceptions of the mind.

1892 C. S. Peirce in Open Court 6 3417/2 It follows that if we find three distinct and irreducible forms of rhemata, the ideas of these should be the three elementary conceptions of metaphysics.

1927 B. Russell Outl. Philos. xxiii. 248 Descartes..inaugurated two movements, one in metaphysics, one in theory of knowledge.

1951 G. J. Warnock in Edwards & Pap Mod. Introd. Philos. (1973) 781 I do not know..how the term ‘metaphysics’ really ought to be defined. I suspect..that it is useless to try to divide philosophy into compartments.

1960 C. C. Gillispie Edge of Objectivity xi. 496 Comte had to..repudiate not only metaphysics but also ontology. Thus would he deprive science of any and every claim to deal with objective reality or with any truth deeper than consistency or efficacy.

1995 Oxf. Compan. Philos. 436/2 The immediate consequence of Kant's limitation of knowledge is to rule out virtually all traditional metaphysics.

†b. The study of phenomena beyond the scope of scientific inquiry; spec. = pneumatology n. 1. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > metaphysics > [noun] > pneumatology

pneumatology1648

pneumatics1695

metaphysics1728

pneumatic philosophy1745

pneumato-philosophy1847

pneumatica1856

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Metaphysics, a Branch of Science, about whose Nature and Idea, there is some difference among Authors... Some define it that part of Science which considers Spirits and immaterial Beings.

1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. i. 354 What was called Metaphysics or Pneumatics were set in opposition to Physics.

a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) I. vii. 121 The Philosophy of Mind,—Psychology or Metaphysics, in the widest signification of the terms,—is threefold.

1880 Harper's Mag. Jan. 187/2 Both the physics and the metaphysics of the brain were embraced.

c. Questions of metaphysics as they relate to a specified subject or phenomenon; the underlying concepts or first principles on which a particular branch of knowledge is based. Usually with of.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > metaphysics > [noun] > of some particular branch of knowledge

metaphysics1790

metaphysic1865

1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 86 I have nothing to say to the clumsy subtilty of their political metaphysics .

1845 G. L. Craik Sketches Hist. Lit. & Learning Eng. V. 200 Burke was our first..writer on the philosophy of practical politics. The mere metaphysics of that science..he held..in..contempt.

1859 J. S. Mill in Fraser's Mag. 59 489/2 His [sc. Austin's] book on the Province of Jurisprudence stepped at once into the very highest authority on what may be termed the metaphysics of law.

1872 O. W. Holmes Poet at Breakfast-table iv. 125 The metaphysics of attention have hardly been sounded to their depths.

1958 W. Stark Sociol. of Knowl. i. iv. 197 A metasociology which would be, not a metaphysics, in so far as metaphysics is divorced from the empirical, but a study of man as he appears in all societies.

1964 A. W. Gouldner in I. L. Horowitz New Sociol. 209 This..is a metaphysics of the underworld, in which conventional society is seen from the standpoint of a group outside of its own respectable structures.

1992 Mind 101 203 It does not attempt to pose as an ‘epistemology of epistemology’, i.e. as a ‘pseudo-rationalistic metaphysics of knowledge’.

d. Philosophy. Used by logical positivists and some other linguistic philosophers for: any proposition or set of propositions of a speculative nature, considered to be meaningless because not empirically verifiable.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical proposition > [noun] > types of proposition

corollaryc1374

porism?a1425

exclusive1533

exponible1569

exceptive1570

continuative1725

desitive1725

inceptive1725

inceptive proposition1725

limitative1864

pseudo-proposition1883

metaphysics1935

1935 R. Carnap Philos. & Logical Syntax 16 To metaphysics (in our sense of the word) belong the principal doctrines of Spinoza, Schelling, Hegel, and..Bergson... It is easy to realise that such propositions are not verifiable.

1937 A. Smeaton tr. R. Carnap Logical Syntax Lang. 8 The sentences of metaphysics are pseudo-sentences which on logical analysis are proved to be either empty phrases or phrases which violate the rules of syntax.

1956 J. O. Urmson Philos. Anal. vii. 106 The view of Wittgenstein that metaphysics was not merely outdated as the old positivism had it, but was a logically impossible enterprise, being excluded by the essential nature of language.

1957 S. Körner in C. A. Mace Brit. Philos. in Mid-Cent. 126 This principle [of verification]..has dominated European thought for at least three centuries..and its acceptance does not mean, therefore, the end of metaphysics as had been believed by some logical positivists.

1966 R. Sternfeld Frege's Logical Theory ii. iii. 55 Thus, the general problem of existence is simply replaced by arithmetical attribution, plus Frege's philosophic superstructure. And this portion of metaphysics is replaced by arithmetic.

2. Any abstruse, confusing, or (deliberately) deceptive form of reasoning or discussion; abstract talk with no basis in or relevance to reality.

ΚΠ

1734 G. Berkeley Analyst §49 This obscurity and incomprehensibility of your metaphysics.

1791 H. More Estimate Relig. Fashionable World 13 It is not perplexed argument or intricate metaphysics, which can now disincline from Christianity.

1895 I. K. Funk et al. Standard Dict. Eng. Lang. II. Metaphysics,..abstruse, confused, and bewildering discussions: a popular use suggested by the character of many works in philosophy.

1905 G. B. Shaw Major Barbara (1907) iii. 278 Dont listen to his metaphysics, Barbara. The place is driven by the most rascally part of society..; and he is their slave.

1929 C. Aitken Sel. Poems 120 Even before the question grew to problem And drove you bickering into metaphysics.

1939 Fortune Nov. 80/3 The very subject of milk pricing, the manner in which a subsidiary on National Dairy Products Corp. decides to charge the consumer fourteen cents for a quart of milk, involves one in an Alice's Wonderland of accounting practice and a metaphysics all its own.

1993 Boulevard Spring 87 Crazy, I had never lived beyond the rich suburbs' humid poolside metaphysics derived from afternoon's languorous habits.

†II. Other uses.

3. Marlowe's name for: occult or magical lore. Cf. metaphysical adj. 4c. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the supernatural > the occult > [noun] > occult doctrine or lore

philosophyc1395

gramaryec1470

cabbalisma1592

metaphysicsa1593

cabalie1652

telesiurgics1662

Cabbala1665

mysticism1825

occultism1876

a1593 C. Marlowe Tragicall Hist. Faustus (1604) sig. A3 These Metaphysickes of Magicians, And Negromantike bookes are heauenly.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	metaphysics
释义	metaphysicsn. Brit. /ˌmɛtəˈfɪzɪks/, U.S. /ˈˌmɛdəˈˌfɪzɪks/ Forms: 1500s–1600s metaphisickes, 1500s–1600s metaphisiks, 1500s–1600s metaphysickes, 1500s– metaphysics, 1600s metaphysiques, 1600s–1700s metaphisicks, 1600s–1800s metaphysicks. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: metaphysic n.¹ Etymology: < metaphysic n.¹: see -ic suffix 2. With singular or (occasionally) plural agreement. I. Philosophical and related uses. 1. a. The branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things or reality, including questions about being, substance, time and space, causation, change, and identity (which are presupposed in the special sciences but do not belong to any one of them); theoretical philosophy as the ultimate science of being and knowing. Also figurative.Formerly usually preceded by the (cf. mathematics n. 1). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > metaphysics > [noun] metaphysica1387 theology1390 philosophy1531 ultramundane1549 metaphysicals1550 supernaturals1562 metaphysics1569 1569 J. Sanford tr. H. C. Agrippa Of Vanitie Artes & Sci. liii. f. 70 (title) Of the Metaphisickes, that is, thinges supernaturall and the Science of them. a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) i. i. 37 The Mathematickes, and the Metaphysickes Fall to them as you finde your stomacke serues you. View more context for this quotation a1620 M. Fotherby Atheomastix (1622) ii. xiv. §2. 356 The Metaphysickes, considering the pure essence of things. 1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iv. xlvi. 376 If such Metaphysiques..be not Vain Philosophy, there was never any. a1658 J. Cleveland Clievelandi Vindiciæ (1677) 13 Call her the Metaphysicks of her Sex, And say she tortures Wits, as Quartans vex Physicians. 1697 J. Sergeant Solid Philos. 459 Hence is demonstrated, that Metaphysicks is absolutely the Highest Science. 1718 J. Chamberlayne tr. B. Nieuwentyt Relig. Philosopher I. Ep. to Rdr. p. i I have not made use of the Metaphysicks. 1739 D. Hume Treat. Human Nature I. iv. 332 So far from being able by our senses merely to determine this question, we must have recourse to the most profound metaphysics to give a satisfactory answer to it. 1775 J. Harris Philos. Arrangem. xvii. 409 Metaphysics are properly conversant about primary and internal Causes. a1832 F. D. Maurice Moral & Metaphysical Philos. in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) II. 545/1 It is impossible to follow the track of any great moral question without entering into the region of pure Metaphysics. 1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess iii. 61 ‘How,’ she cried, ‘you love The metaphysics!’ 1865 J. S. Mill in Westm. Rev. 27 347 In repudiating metaphysics, M. Comte did not interdict himself from analysing or criticising any of the abstract conceptions of the mind. 1892 C. S. Peirce in Open Court 6 3417/2 It follows that if we find three distinct and irreducible forms of rhemata, the ideas of these should be the three elementary conceptions of metaphysics. 1927 B. Russell Outl. Philos. xxiii. 248 Descartes..inaugurated two movements, one in metaphysics, one in theory of knowledge. 1951 G. J. Warnock in Edwards & Pap Mod. Introd. Philos. (1973) 781 I do not know..how the term ‘metaphysics’ really ought to be defined. I suspect..that it is useless to try to divide philosophy into compartments. 1960 C. C. Gillispie Edge of Objectivity xi. 496 Comte had to..repudiate not only metaphysics but also ontology. Thus would he deprive science of any and every claim to deal with objective reality or with any truth deeper than consistency or efficacy. 1995 Oxf. Compan. Philos. 436/2 The immediate consequence of Kant's limitation of knowledge is to rule out virtually all traditional metaphysics. †b. The study of phenomena beyond the scope of scientific inquiry; spec. = pneumatology n. 1. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > metaphysics > [noun] > pneumatology pneumatology1648 pneumatics1695 metaphysics1728 pneumatic philosophy1745 pneumato-philosophy1847 pneumatica1856 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Metaphysics, a Branch of Science, about whose Nature and Idea, there is some difference among Authors... Some define it that part of Science which considers Spirits and immaterial Beings. 1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. i. 354 What was called Metaphysics or Pneumatics were set in opposition to Physics. a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) I. vii. 121 The Philosophy of Mind,—Psychology or Metaphysics, in the widest signification of the terms,—is threefold. 1880 Harper's Mag. Jan. 187/2 Both the physics and the metaphysics of the brain were embraced. c. Questions of metaphysics as they relate to a specified subject or phenomenon; the underlying concepts or first principles on which a particular branch of knowledge is based. Usually with of. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > metaphysics > [noun] > of some particular branch of knowledge metaphysics1790 metaphysic1865 1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 86 I have nothing to say to the clumsy subtilty of their political metaphysics . View more context for this quotation 1845 G. L. Craik Sketches Hist. Lit. & Learning Eng. V. 200 Burke was our first..writer on the philosophy of practical politics. The mere metaphysics of that science..he held..in..contempt. 1859 J. S. Mill in Fraser's Mag. 59 489/2 His [sc. Austin's] book on the Province of Jurisprudence stepped at once into the very highest authority on what may be termed the metaphysics of law. 1872 O. W. Holmes Poet at Breakfast-table iv. 125 The metaphysics of attention have hardly been sounded to their depths. 1958 W. Stark Sociol. of Knowl. i. iv. 197 A metasociology which would be, not a metaphysics, in so far as metaphysics is divorced from the empirical, but a study of man as he appears in all societies. 1964 A. W. Gouldner in I. L. Horowitz New Sociol. 209 This..is a metaphysics of the underworld, in which conventional society is seen from the standpoint of a group outside of its own respectable structures. 1992 Mind 101 203 It does not attempt to pose as an ‘epistemology of epistemology’, i.e. as a ‘pseudo-rationalistic metaphysics of knowledge’. d. Philosophy. Used by logical positivists and some other linguistic philosophers for: any proposition or set of propositions of a speculative nature, considered to be meaningless because not empirically verifiable. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical proposition > [noun] > types of proposition corollaryc1374 porism?a1425 exclusive1533 exponible1569 exceptive1570 continuative1725 desitive1725 inceptive1725 inceptive proposition1725 limitative1864 pseudo-proposition1883 metaphysics1935 1935 R. Carnap Philos. & Logical Syntax 16 To metaphysics (in our sense of the word) belong the principal doctrines of Spinoza, Schelling, Hegel, and..Bergson... It is easy to realise that such propositions are not verifiable. 1937 A. Smeaton tr. R. Carnap Logical Syntax Lang. 8 The sentences of metaphysics are pseudo-sentences which on logical analysis are proved to be either empty phrases or phrases which violate the rules of syntax. 1956 J. O. Urmson Philos. Anal. vii. 106 The view of Wittgenstein that metaphysics was not merely outdated as the old positivism had it, but was a logically impossible enterprise, being excluded by the essential nature of language. 1957 S. Körner in C. A. Mace Brit. Philos. in Mid-Cent. 126 This principle [of verification]..has dominated European thought for at least three centuries..and its acceptance does not mean, therefore, the end of metaphysics as had been believed by some logical positivists. 1966 R. Sternfeld Frege's Logical Theory ii. iii. 55 Thus, the general problem of existence is simply replaced by arithmetical attribution, plus Frege's philosophic superstructure. And this portion of metaphysics is replaced by arithmetic. 2. Any abstruse, confusing, or (deliberately) deceptive form of reasoning or discussion; abstract talk with no basis in or relevance to reality. ΚΠ 1734 G. Berkeley Analyst §49 This obscurity and incomprehensibility of your metaphysics. 1791 H. More Estimate Relig. Fashionable World 13 It is not perplexed argument or intricate metaphysics, which can now disincline from Christianity. 1895 I. K. Funk et al. Standard Dict. Eng. Lang. II. Metaphysics,..abstruse, confused, and bewildering discussions: a popular use suggested by the character of many works in philosophy. 1905 G. B. Shaw Major Barbara (1907) iii. 278 Dont listen to his metaphysics, Barbara. The place is driven by the most rascally part of society..; and he is their slave. 1929 C. Aitken Sel. Poems 120 Even before the question grew to problem And drove you bickering into metaphysics. 1939 Fortune Nov. 80/3 The very subject of milk pricing, the manner in which a subsidiary on National Dairy Products Corp. decides to charge the consumer fourteen cents for a quart of milk, involves one in an Alice's Wonderland of accounting practice and a metaphysics all its own. 1993 Boulevard Spring 87 Crazy, I had never lived beyond the rich suburbs' humid poolside metaphysics derived from afternoon's languorous habits. †II. Other uses. 3. Marlowe's name for: occult or magical lore. Cf. metaphysical adj. 4c. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > the supernatural > the occult > [noun] > occult doctrine or lore philosophyc1395 gramaryec1470 cabbalisma1592 metaphysicsa1593 cabalie1652 telesiurgics1662 Cabbala1665 mysticism1825 occultism1876 a1593 C. Marlowe Tragicall Hist. Faustus (1604) sig. A3 These Metaphysickes of Magicians, And Negromantike bookes are heauenly. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.1569
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