Metaphysics is one of the oldest and most fundamental branches of philosophy, focusing on the study of . While physics deals with the observable laws of the universe, metaphysics asks what lies "beyond" or "after" those physical properties. Core Areas of Inquiry
| Philosopher | Core Metaphysical Idea | |-------------|------------------------| | (c. 500 BCE) | Change is an illusion; only a single, unchanging Being exists. | | Plato | The material world is a shadow of a higher realm of perfect, eternal Forms . | | Aristotle | Reality consists of individual substances (e.g., this horse) composed of form and matter ; potentiality becomes actuality. | | René Descartes | Reality is split into two fundamental substances: mind (thinking) and matter (extended). | | Immanuel Kant | We can never know "things in themselves" ( noumena ) — only phenomena as structured by our own minds. | | G.W.F. Hegel | Reality unfolds dialectically as a dynamic, rational Absolute Spirit becoming self-aware. | | Martin Heidegger | Central question: "What does it mean to be ?" Focus on human existence ( Dasein ) as the site where being becomes intelligible. | Metafisica