Part of the Casswiki article series History
Metaphysics is a term first used by the followers of Aristotle as a name for that part of his writings which came after, or followed, the part which treated of physics. Metaphysica (in Greek: τὰ μετὰ τὰ φυσικά) was the title of Aristotle’s treatise on the subject, which the word literally means “works after the physical”.
In a traditional usage, it is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world that encompasses it. Metaphysics is distinguished as general and special. General metaphysics is the science of all being as being. Special metaphysics is the science of one kind of being; as, the metaphysics of chemistry, of morals, or of politics. According to Kant, a systematic exposition of those notions and truths, the knowledge of which is altogether independent of experience, would constitute the science of metaphysics.
In modern popular usage, the term often refers to something outside of the physical reality, to something supernatural or belonging to a spiritual state of being.