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Metaphysics
49 flashcards
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, including the nature of being, existence, time, space, causality, and possibility.
Ontology is the study of the nature of being, existence, or reality. It deals with questions about what entities or things exist, their categories, and how they relate to each other.
The metaphysical problem of causality deals with the nature of cause and effect and whether any event has a cause. It explores questions about determinism, necessity, free will, and the possibility of uncaused events.
The mind-body problem is a metaphysical issue concerning the relationship between the mind and the physical body. It explores whether mental states can exist apart from the physical brain and how they might interact.
The problem of identity in metaphysics concerns the conditions under which an entity or object remains the same while undergoing changes over time. It explores criteria for determining the identity of objects, persons, and substances.
The problem of substance in metaphysics concerns the nature of what underlies or supports the properties or qualities of an entity. It explores whether substances are fundamental or derived from something more basic.
The problem of free will concerns whether humans have the ability to make genuinely free choices or if our actions are determined by factors beyond our control, such as physical laws or divine foreknowledge.
The problem of universals concerns the nature and existence of abstract objects or qualities that can be instantiated or exemplified by many particular things, such as redness, humanity, or triangularity.
Possible worlds are ways the world could have been different, used in metaphysics to explore questions of necessity, possibility, and the nature of modality. They help analyze what is essential versus accidental about reality.
The problem of abstract objects concerns the ontological status and nature of non-physical, non-spatiotemporal entities like numbers, propositions, and other abstract concepts that seem to exist but not in physical space.
The principle of sufficient reason states that for every fact or true proposition, there must be an explanation or reason why it is true rather than false. It is a metaphysical principle about the nature of reality.
In metaphysics, essence refers to the fundamental nature, core properties, or essential qualities that make something what it is and distinguish it from other types of things.
The problem of idealism versus realism concerns whether reality is fundamentally mental (idealism) or if there is a mind-independent physical world that exists externally (realism). It explores the nature of the external world.
The problem of determinism versus indeterminism explores whether events are fully determined by prior causes following natural laws (determinism) or if there are uncaused, random, or non-determined events (indeterminism).
The principle of non-contradiction states that contradictory statements cannot both be true in the same sense at the same time. It is a fundamental metaphysical principle about the nature of reality and truth.
Modal metaphysics is the study of metaphysical modality, or the nature of necessity, possibility, and related concepts. It explores what makes things possible or necessary and the status of merely possible worlds.
The problem of personal identity concerns the conditions under which a person remains the same person over time, despite changes in their qualities, memories, or physical constitution.
Metaphysical realism is the view that the external world exists independently of our perception of it and has its own mind-independent nature and structure.
Mereology is the study of parthood relations and the formal theory of the relationships between wholes and their parts in metaphysics. It explores issues of composition, boundaries, and unity.
The problem of material constitution concerns how objects with different properties or persistence conditions can be composed of the same basic materials, exploring the relationship between an object and its matter.
Aristotelian metaphysics is based on the philosophy of Aristotle, centered on concepts of substance, essence, causality, actuality and potentiality as key to understanding the nature of being and reality.
The problem of temporary intrinsics concerns how objects can gain or lose intrinsic properties over time while still being considered the 'same' object, challenging assumptions about identity and change.
The theory of tropes holds that properties are particular instances, rather than universal abstractions. Tropes are particularized properties like 'this redness' rather than the abstract universal property of redness.
The problem of quiddities concerns the inner nature or 'whatness' of things, and whether objects have an unknowable metaphysical essence that grounds their properties and modal profiles.
Bundle theory is the view that objects are nothing more than bundles or collections of properties, without any underlying substance. It denies that there are bare particulars underlying properties.
The problem of grounding concerns the metaphysical basis or explanation for why something holds or obtains, exploring what grounds or accounts for truths, facts, or the existence of entities.
In metaphysics, laws of nature are not just descriptive patterns but involve necessities that govern reality at the most fundamental level, constraining what can and cannot occur in the actual world.
Supervenience is a dependence relation in metaphysics where one set of properties supervenes on or is determined by another set of properties, without necessitating identity between the properties.
Metaphysical nihilism is the view that nothing at all exists or that existence is senseless or impossible. It is the rejection of being itself as opposed to just certain beings.
Metaphysical monism is the view that reality is a unified whole with all things derived from a single source or substance. It contrasts with metaphysical dualism or pluralism.
The problem of the criterion of identity asks what makes something the same persisting entity over time, exploring principles for determining numerical identity despite qualitative changes.
Dispositional properties are properties that necessarily involve tendencies, powers, or dispositions to produce certain effects or behave in certain ways given the right conditions.
In metaphysics, fundamentality concerns what entities or facts are metaphysically basic or foundational, as opposed to being grounded in or derived from something more fundamental.
Process philosophy views reality as a continuous process of events or becoming, rather than as collection of static substances or things. It emphasizes flux, activity, and change.
Metaphysical categories are the most general kinds or classes to which entities or beings are assigned in order to articulate a systematic ontology or theory of reality.
The problem of haecceities concerns the individuating factors or 'thisness' that make an entity numerically distinct from other entities of the same kind with all the same qualities.
In metaphysics, vagueness concerns the lack of definite boundaries or borderline cases where it is indeterminate whether something satisfies a property or description.
The problem of composition deals with the principles that determine when some things compose or constitute a further object or whole, and the persistence conditions for that whole.
Humeanism refers to positions inspired by David Hume that reject necessary connections between distinct entities and reduce reality to contingently co-occurring particulars or sense data.
Metaphysical systems are comprehensive theories or models that attempt to describe the fundamental nature of reality and explain its ultimate constituents and principles.
Pythagoreanism is an ancient metaphysical view that numbers and numerical ratios constitute the fundamental entities or principles underlying reality.
The doctrine of internal relations in metaphysics holds that relations are not external additions to things, but rather internal to and partly constitutive of the nature of related things.
In metaphysics, truthmakers are the entities or states of affairs in virtue of which a proposition or truth-bearer is true, accounting for the truth of truths.
Neutral monism is the view that there is an underlying neutral substance that is neither physical nor mental, from which both matter and mind are derived.
Rarefied metaphysical categories are highly abstract kinds of being posited by some metaphysicians, beyond the ordinary ontological categories of concrete objects, properties, etc.
The problem of material plenitude asks whether there are restrictions on what possible material objects or compositions could exist, or whether any combination of matter is metaphysically possible.
De re modality concerns necessity and possibility as had by specific objects or individuals themselves, rather than general propositions, exploring their essential versus accidental traits.
Aristotelian essentialism is the view derived from Aristotle that things have essences or intrinsic essential properties that make them the kinds of things they are.
The problem of ontological dependence explores how some entities or facts metaphysically depend on others for their existence or obtaining, and what depends on what at the most fundamental level.