What exactly does "metaphysics" mean?

Metaphysics refers to the study of the nature of the world, that is, the study of all existence, the causes and origins of all phenomena (especially abstract concepts).

It was first constructed by Aristotle and called "the first philosophy" and "the first science".

The main problems of metaphysics include: what is the origin of the world, whether the soul exists, free will, causality and so on.

Metaphysical position

Metaphysics is an ancient speculative philosophy and the foundation of idealism. After the beginning of modern philosophy with Hegel as the starting point, the West began to generally question metaphysics, began to open up new roads, carried out a revolution against tradition, and generally improved the philosophy of science, so metaphysics gradually declined in the West in the19th century.

In 1980s, Taiwan Province Province published the book Drinking Sacrifice in Modern Metaphysics: Whitehead, which introduced alfred north whitehead and his philosophical thoughts.

The book points out that "metaphysics" has gradually declined in the west in the 20th century. Recently, many related studies in the English-speaking world further show that although "metaphysics" cannot be said to have been ignored, on the whole, it should be exaggerated to say that it is in a state of relative decline compared with its previous importance in the western philosophical tradition.

In the introduction, the document points out that "the investigation of contemporary debates on metaphysics and its criticism leads to a conclusion that there is a general trend to defend the inseparable relationship between them". Further analysis shows that in these debates, the vast majority of debate participants believe that any response to metaphysics, no matter how powerful or radical, is bound to fall into the metaphysical tradition.

The contemporary dominant view is that criticism is actually still linked with metaphysics, and even will eventually return to the metaphysical form. This view confirms the persistence of a typical model, that is, the circular relationship between metaphysics and its criticism.

For example, it is mentioned in the introduction of metaphysical items in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy that many philosophical problems are now regarded as metaphysical problems (or at least partial metaphysical problems), which have nothing to do with "original rationality" or "unchangeable things", such as "free will or moral problems", and new problems are constantly entering the scope of metaphysical research.

It can be seen from the metaphysical papers appearing in philosophical journals that the study of metaphysics is an interesting topic.

This can also be obtained from 23 professors in the philosophy department of Harvard University (July 2020. From the research direction, we can find that five people's research includes metaphysics, eight people's research includes epistemology in metaphysics, but only five people's research includes philosophy of language/analytical philosophy (a school that criticizes metaphysics).