What is metaphysics in philosophy?

From the Greek language the word "metaphysics" is translated as "what is after physics". First of all, this concept is associated exactly with one of the philosophical teachings about the principles of being and about being as a whole. In addition, the word "metaphysics" was used as a synonym for philosophy. It can be said that she appeared along with philosophy, calling herself her sister. For the first time metaphysics in ancient Greek philosophy was thoroughly mentioned in the writings of Aristotle, and this term was introduced by the librarian of the first century. BC. E. Andronicus of Rhodes, who systematized the treatises of Aristotle.

Metaphysics in the philosophy of antiquity

In those days, there were two famous philosophers: Plato and his disciple Aristotle. The main feature of metaphysics in the first thinker was the perception of all things as a whole. Aristotle, however, singled out several sciences that emphasize various things, and at the head stood the doctrine of the essential. And the essential can not be viewed by its parts, without seeing a complete picture. Also this scientist distinguished metaphysics as the meaning of any person, comprehending which one can get higher intellectual pleasure.

Metaphysics in the Philosophy of the Middle Ages

In the understanding of medieval minds, this science is one of the forms of rational understanding of this world. The concept of metaphysics in the philosophy of the Middle Ages nevertheless boiled down to the comprehension of God. It was believed that she was closer to the spiritual than to the material, and therefore could open the gates to the knowledge of the Supreme.

Metaphysics in the philosophy of the Renaissance

As you know, at this time a person was placed in the center of the whole universe. An in-depth study of the psychological features and spiritual world of man began. And metaphysics, from the point of view of religion, could not answer important questions of that time, therefore it was reduced to the level of dogmatics.

Metaphysics in the philosophy of modern times

This concept at that time ceased to be limited to theology and again became a means of knowledge of nature, because science begins to hit hard on all aspects of life. Metaphysics again becomes at the top, but already of natural sciences, and in some moments even merges with them. Philosophers of that era did not do without scientific knowledge. If in antiquity metaphysics was the science of being, in the Middle Ages, we can say that the science of God, then in modern times it became a science of knowledge. First of all, the property of the new metaphysics was the integrity of all that exists.

In the XVIII century, the doctrine of being faced with a crisis. This is connected with the allocation of sciences with more specific topics, and also a total criticism of everything began, under the impact was metaphysics. Condemned for many years, she divided into ontology and natural theology.

Immanuel Kant began to work on the revival of metaphysics, or rather, on its degeneration, changing its form and proving its principles. A new time for the doctrine of being ended in the philosophy of Hegel, who formed metaphysics not as empty accepted beliefs, but as a theory for the unification of all sciences, the number of which is growing steadily.