Introduction to Metaphysics / Gabby Mccarthy

Contents: 1. Concepts of Metaphysics, 2. Anima Mundi, Abstract and Concrete; 3. Being and Causality, 4. Concept, Choice and Cogito Ergo Sum, 5. Entity, Essence and Embodied Cognition, 6. Existence, Experience and Hypostatic Abstraction, 7. Idea, Pattern, Identity and Perception, 8. Object, Notion and Metaphysical Necessity, 9. Motion, Mind, and Mental Representation, 10. Meaning, Memetics and Matter, 11. Intelligence, Intention and Linguistic Modality.

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of existence, being and the world. Arguably, metaphysics is the foundation of philosophy: Aristotle calls it "first philosophy" (or sometimes just "wisdom"), and says it is the subject that deals with "first causes and the principles of things". lt asks questions like: "What is the nature of reality?", "How does the world exist, and what is its origin or source of creation?", "Does the world exist outside the mind?", "How can the incorporeal mind affect the physical body?", "If things exist, what is their objective nature?", "Is there a God (or many gods, or no god at all)?" Originally, the Greek word "metaphysika" (literally "after physics") merely indicated that part of Aristotle's oeuvre which came, in its sequence, after those chapters which dealt with physics. Later, it was misinterpreted by Medieval commentators on the classical texts as that which is above or beyond the physical, and so over time metaphysics has effectively become the study of that which transcends physics. This book provides a detailed resume of current knowledge about the Metaphysics.