METAPHYSICS (Lat. metaphysiea, fron Gk. yera re( meta to physika, followim the physics; because of the position this subjec Jccupied in Aristotle's collected works). name given to the science which deals with ulti mate reality. Metaphysics or ontology is term used to designate a branch of philosophy but much difference of opinion prevails as t( the precise character and function of this philo sophic discipline, and even as to its possibility lts possibility naturally depends upon its tasl and scope. According to the older view, meta physics had to do. not with the world of experi ever, but with a. metempirical world—i.e. a work other than the world of experience, and sup posed by some to be more real than the latter But there are many, especially in modern times who take a different view of the task of meta physics. They regard it as a science dealing with the world of experience as every other science does, but studying that world with a view tc answering certain questions which the so-calla natural sciences do not raise. The natural sci ences take up certain isolated aspects of ex perienced reality, and by means of this speciali nation are able to obtain much more detail& knowledge. But this knowledge does not pretene to go beyond appearances. The question is al. ways left open whether after all the things may not be a surface while true being lies below in unfathomable deeps. This question some mod ern metaphysicians take up and claim to answer in the negative, not dogmatically, but scientifical ly. According to this school the proper point of departure for metaphysical inquiry is the epistemological conclusion that knowledge and reality are two sides of one and the same cont crete experience. (See KNOWLEDGE, TBEORY OF.)
Any attempt to divorce reality from knowledge involves the logical fallacy of supposing that what is always validated to us by experience can be sundered from experience and yet remair real. The error is of the same kind as would b( committed by one who should say that 'weans( color and extension are distinguishable. therefor( color can exist when separated from extension Aeeording to this school, metaphysics is time sci nee which draws conclusions as to the natur( of reality from the scientific findings of epic. teniningy. As epistemology is an experiential and inductive science. metaphysics is based on !experience; it is not an attempt to spin eohwebs in the brain. Among metaphysical problems arc those as to the nature of cause (see CAT'SALTTY), of time and space (q.v.), of substance (q.v.), infinity (see INFINITE). of the absolute (q.v.) of the freedom of the will (see DETERMINISM), of mechanism and teleology (q.v.), of monism and pluralism (q.v.), and of the relation be tween mind and body. See Du.umsA; and MA TERIALISM.
As Kiilpe has remarked. the bibliography of metaphysics is that of philosophy (q.v.) itself. Some systematic treatises on the subject may be mentioned here: Deussen. E/cmcnte der .11cta physik (Aix-la-Chapelle. 1877; 2d ed. 1890; Eng. trans., London, 1894) ; Dietrich, Grumiziipc der iletaphysik (Freiburg, 1883) ; Bowne. .Metaphys ics (2d ed., New lurk, 1893) ; Ladd, Theory of Reality (ib., 1899) ; Lutze, 8ystcm der Philoso phic, part ii., Metaphysik (Leipzig, 1879; Eng. trans., Oxford, 1884, 1887) Bradley. Appear ance and Reality (2d ed.. London. 1597). See also PIIILOSOPIIY and its bibliography.