Questions tagged [metaphysics]

Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the essence of things, of the fundamental nature of being and the world and the principles that organize the universe. Metaphysics is supposed to answer the question "What is the nature of reality?"

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Is physicalism the simplest worldview in terms of the complexity of its ontology?

Does physicalism enjoy the simplest ontology among all worldviews? Are there alternative conceivable views of reality with a simpler ontology than physicalism's that can explain the same data? For ...
2 votes
1 answer
172 views

What do you call something that is not a substance in philosophy?

Is the mind a substance in dual aspect monism? In philosophy, "substance" is like "atom", which is the ultimate independent real existence not depending on other entities, is the ...
21 votes
4 answers
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How do defenders of libertarian freewill reconcile it with constraints imposed by the laws of physics?

Libertarian freewill is the position that we have some measure of metaphysical freewill. Per this position, a free agent at a given point in time is able to freely select a course of action among ...
2 votes
1 answer
85 views

Is Hume talking about noumena in section 12 of the Enquiry?

So I'm almost done with the Enquiry and came across something in this section that reminded me of Kant's phenomena and noumena. If this is the case, I'm just curious, why hadn't anyone made this ...
0 votes
1 answer
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Why real distinction in God gives act and potency composition

So Thomists believe that there are no real distinction between perfections in God as He is pure act and He isn't composed in any manner. But Im not getting how real distinctions between perfections ...
2 votes
2 answers
110 views

Why isn't Kant's critique of metaphysics directed to himself?

I really like Kant, but I'm having a hard time understanding his Critique of Metaphysics. Kant takes as illegitimate the transcendental use of the concepts of pure understanding. This seems to be the ...
1 vote
1 answer
69 views

Constructing an infinite interval with a definite starting point given an infinite past

I had a question regarding constructing an infinite interval with a starting point given an an infinite past. I wish to model an infinite past in a non-formal non-rigorous set theoretic manner and was ...
-2 votes
0 answers
65 views

What is subquantum kinetics? [closed]

The physics hypothesis subquantum kinetics is a transdisciplinary topic (research here), and claims to explain the existence of an ether and possibly psychic phenomena, similar to the morphogenetic ...
5 votes
1 answer
104 views

What would be Gilbert Ryle's necessary and sufficient conditions for being a human being?

One of my students asked me this question and I can't answer it. I thought it was a great question. Any suggestions on an equally good answer? (I'm not a trained philosopher, I'm a historian. I teach ...
3 votes
4 answers
112 views

Is there anything continuous within a "time-slice" of experience?

This is a problem with which I have genuinely been struggling for some time. Unfortunately, it is not a "mainstream" problem, and could be misconstrued as a development of my own mind, but I ...
4 votes
1 answer
168 views

Why are concepts without intuitions blind?

I think at this point I understand all the transcendental arguments of CPR except this one - and probably this could considerably change my understanding of Kant as a whole. Here is my confusion. ...
1 vote
3 answers
203 views

Kant and the Ship of Theseus

Does Kant's philosophy of perception and intuition imply that the unity of perceived individuals is an intuition? If so, this seems to resolve the various paradoxes of physical individuals such as the ...
4 votes
7 answers
701 views

Does zero exist? [closed]

I suggest that zero is a cognitive crutch, a way for humans to grasp the concept of absence, but not an objective existence in itself. By using zero, we're essentially creating a placeholder for ...
2 votes
1 answer
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Can somebody explain the second argument of B-deduction in CPR?

For me, the Transcendental Deduction aims at proving two things: Categories or pure concepts of understanding must be applied to the manifold of intuitions, i.e, they are necessary for cognition. ...
2 votes
2 answers
346 views

According to Kant, while thinking of empty concepts without intuitions, what do we synthesise?

(This will be my last question on this book, for those of you getting bored of my questions). Very briefly I will describe the method of Transcendental Deduction (TD) in an over-simplistic manner, and ...
2 votes
2 answers
151 views

Are information, matter and energy improper concepts?

In Proper and Improper concepts (1927) Carnap argued for the distinction between proper concepts (the ones that are explicitly defined) ”It is essential to a proper concept that for any object it is ...
4 votes
4 answers
172 views

Regarding objects being concrete and properties being abstract

For those who believe that objects are concrete things and properties are abstract things, what do you make of sensory properties? Our brains perceive sensory qualities first and build (concepts of) &...
-1 votes
0 answers
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Dialectical Holonic Dua-Monism: Is this the next stage of dialectics? [closed]

So I coined the above concept called Dialectical Holonic Dua-Monism (DHD). The idea is to apply Dialectics to itself as a means to grow the concept and apply it to fields like contemporary political ...
2 votes
3 answers
412 views

Physics and mereology

How can physics, particularly Quantum Field Theory (QFT), contribute to clarifying the ontological nature of objects, in light of different mereological positions such as mereological nihilism, ...
2 votes
4 answers
478 views

Could a finite time universe exist "eternally"?

In a world of one spatial dimension and one time dimension, we can, as physicists working on relativity do, consider world lines in space-time. That is, consider the xt-plane with t as the horizontal ...
2 votes
7 answers
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What are fundamental elements to existence aside time and space?

What are fundamental elements to existence aside time and space? Did philosopher identified elements that are necessary to existence or our existence like time and space? Is the third element matter? ...
1 vote
3 answers
152 views

Is it possible to simulate a reality like ours using other logic than classical logic?

Are there alternative logical systems that could serve as a foundation for simulating a reality similar to ours, given that non-classical logics such as paraconsistent logic, while applicable in ...
5 votes
2 answers
74 views

According to Aristotle are actions substances?

Actions can have qualities and be subjects, like when we say "walking is good for health". Would Aristotle say that actions are substances?
6 votes
7 answers
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Is something physical if and only if we can perceive it (directly or indirectly) with our bodily senses?

What is the relationship between the physical and our senses? If something is physical, must it necessarily be the case that we should be able to perceive it, at least in principle, directly with our ...
1 vote
1 answer
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Has there been any biological underpinnings of intuition?

So I know relevance (as I think of it) is a subset of our lightcone (for lack of a better word/analogy our experience). I suspect intuition is some kind of subset of relevance and union of our ...
6 votes
5 answers
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Can the goals of an organism be imputed from observation?

For example: we observe an ant carrying food back to its nest. We may speak like the ant has a goal of increasing the amount of food in the nest. We observe a student proofreading an essay. We may ...
2 votes
6 answers
122 views

Through the lens of classical metaphysics exclusively, what has been said on the plausability of action across a void at a distance?

Newton (somewhat famously) wrote: And this is one reason why I desired you would not ascribe {innate} gravity to me. That gravity should be innate inherent & {essential} to matter so that one ...
9 votes
13 answers
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Is non-physicalism reasonable?

My question has two components: Reasonableness. What does it mean for a position to be reasonable? What conditions does a position have to meet to be regarded as reasonable? Physicalism. Wikipedia ...
21 votes
16 answers
3k views

Is knowledge non-physical?

What is the fundamental nature/ontology of knowledge? Is knowledge a physical state? Is knowledge a specific arrangement of physical particles in a brain, a book, a solid-state drive, a GPU, etc.? Or ...
1 vote
3 answers
84 views

Is the fundamental nature of knowledge intimately linked to the fundamental nature of minds (consciousness)?

This is a follow-up to Is knowledge non-physical?. Can knowledge exist outside of minds? Can something devoid of consciousness truly possess knowledge? Consider objects like books, inscribed rocks, ...
2 votes
4 answers
186 views

What are examples of non-physicalist approaches to acquiring knowledge?

As a follow-up to my previous question Is non-physicalism reasonable?, I would like to know about non-physicalist ways of acquiring knowledge that philosophers have considered. What sorts of knowledge ...
3 votes
3 answers
228 views

Within scholastics, how does animals' perception work, when compared to humans' apprehension of universals?

In the study of scholastic philosophy, I'm struggling with this question for a while: It seems like dogs do know what dogs are. Aquinas states that animals have perception, capable of complex ...
6 votes
11 answers
3k views

Can ChatGPT provide any value as a sounding board for philosophical exploration?

In my experiences with ChatGPT (3 sessions - 6 hrs, 2hrs and 4 hrs) it has done amazingly, exceedingly, mind-blowingly well. (And I am an ex-programmer, not so easy to surprise or impress). I asked ...
0 votes
8 answers
200 views

What is the most ultimately natural philosophical question? If not "What is the nature of reality?"

"What is the nature of reality?" is the question that the Stack Exchange Philosophy Metaphysics page explicitly says should be asked. And one presumes, an answer sought. However. When I ...
1 vote
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Greek philosophy: Why would Finite Time weaken the forces of evil?

The inspiration for this question is the metaphysics of evil in Zurvanism, however, I do not want to use the internal logic of this religious system to understand this topic, rather I want to see if ...
1 vote
1 answer
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Within the context of metaphysics specifically... who originally asked the question "What is the nature of reality?" [closed]

This is tagged, and asked of, those that would describe themselves as metaphysicists, or those interested in viewing a question through the spectacles of mteaphysics. So, noting "WITHIN the ...
5 votes
9 answers
756 views

How could Occam's razor possibly be used metaphysically?

Occam's razor, or the law of parsimony, states that the simplest explanation for any given data is most likely the correct one. Some have attempted to use Occam's razor in a metaphysical sense, to ...
1 vote
0 answers
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How the third excluded principle in Aristotle's Metaphysics should be understood?

I'm having trouble understanding Aristotle's argument for the Third Excluded Principle (from Book 4, part 7). What I mean, I try to read the two paragraphs of that part but what I can't figure out is: ...
1 vote
3 answers
105 views

What is the motive of the universe? [closed]

If you look at the options, the universe is either temporally bounded temporally unbounded is either bounded spatially or unbounded spatially and is any of these permutations with our uncertainty. ...
2 votes
1 answer
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What motivated Whitehead to choose "Cogredience"?

I'm not a native english speaker, so I was not familiar with the term "cogredience" when I first saw it in Concept of Nature. frankly, it seems like its a word Whitehead used in a different ...
1 vote
3 answers
160 views

How can universal truths lead to particular truths?

Disclaimer: I have not read philosophy outside of limited Greek works So, Plato theorized that there was a world of "universals" and "particulars", the world of general principles (...
2 votes
6 answers
567 views

Is there an evil god?

Bertrand Russell writes in his Why I Am Not a Christian that one could easily "take up the line that some of the gnostics took up—a line which I often thought was a very plausible one—that as a ...
2 votes
6 answers
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Is it true that no philosopher disagrees that everything exists?

I am baffled by what Quine claims here: A curious thing about the ontological problem is its simplicity. It can be put in three Anglo-Saxon monosyllables: 'What is there?' It can be answered, ...
4 votes
4 answers
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What's the difference between "emergence" and "reductionism"?

Isn't a system, which emerged from simpler system also reducible to the simpler system? More general, is emergence the reverse term to reducitionism?
4 votes
4 answers
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If X causes Y, where does Y gain its properties from? Are they transferred over from the cause X?

Suppose ball 1 collides with ball 2 which was at rest. Then, ball 2 starts to move too. It is as though the effects property of movement was already contained within the cause and got transferred. Is ...
11 votes
10 answers
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How to not fear the supernatural? [closed]

I have post-traumatic stress disorder. Like many so afflicted, I interpreted the trauma as a form of punishment. I’m not religious, but my mind spontaneously invented an idiosyncratic deity in the ...
1 vote
1 answer
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Is there a term for properties that an entity has at a particular time, but which depend on the properties it has at other times?

Is there a term for properties that an entity has at a particular time, but which depend on the properties it has at other times? For example, when he was a child, Lebron James had the property of ...
4 votes
7 answers
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What is the nature of reality? Metaphysics: so the answer will "explain the essence of things and the principles that organize existence" [closed]

That's the whole question. Per the Stack Exchange -> Philosophy -> Metaphysics Tag Page Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the essence of things, of the fundamental ...
2 votes
2 answers
363 views

Can you list other Collingwood's Absolute Presuppositions?

Robin G. Collingwood's posited the existence of absolute presuppositions (AS). As a reminder, presuppositions are for Collingwood assumptions and guiding precepts that are closed to further analysis ...
2 votes
4 answers
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Why do realists insist that universals EXIST?

Consider a universe of size 10×10×10. Let there be 10 identical looking apples and 10 identical looking rods in it. Why do realists insist that not just 20 things exists but there also EXISTS ...

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