Not everyone is a fan. In the 20th century, the Logical Positivists (and later, the "Ordinary Language" philosophers) tried to kill Metaphysics. They argued that if you can’t verify something through science or observation, it is literally nonsense. They claimed questions like "What is the meaning of Being?" were just linguistic traps—bad grammar disguised as deep thought.
Yet, Metaphysics refused to die. Why? Because humans cannot help but ask. We are meaning-making creatures. Science can tell us the chemical composition of a tear, but it cannot tell us why we cry from grief. That requires a look at the meta—the context beyond the physical reaction.
If a machine can think, what is consciousness? If we can map every neuron, have we found the soul? Philosophers like David Chalmers have reintroduced panpsychism (the idea that consciousness is a fundamental feature of the universe) into serious scientific debate.
Plato introduced the most famous metaphor in metaphysics: the cave. Prisoners see only shadows on a wall, believing those shadows are the whole of reality. When one prisoner escapes and sees the sun (the Form of the Good), he realizes the shadows were a poor copy. For Plato, the physical world is not the "real" world—it is a flickering shadow of a perfect, eternal, non-physical reality. Metafisica
The history of metafisica is a dialogue stretching over two millennia.
To understand Metafisica, we must first thank (and blame) a librarian. Around 70 BCE, Andronicus of Rhodes was organizing the works of Aristotle. He had a collection of writings on physics, nature, and biology. But he also had a set of scrolls that didn’t fit anywhere else. These writings came after the physical works. He labeled them simply: Ta Meta ta Physika — "The ones after the Physics."
Thus, a discipline was accidentally named. Not everyone is a fan
For Aristotle, Metafisica was not about ghosts or spirits. It was the study of First Causes and Being Itself. While physics studies a specific tree (its height, leaves, bark), metaphysics asks: What is a tree? What does it mean to exist? What is substance?
Aristotle divided Metafisica into three core branches:
In short, while science tells us how something happens, Metafisica asks why there is something rather than nothing. In short, while science tells us how something
You don't need a PhD to engage with metafisica. In fact, you already ask metaphysical questions. Every child who asks, "Where did the first thing come from?" or "What happens after death?" is engaging in metaphysics.
Here is a simple exercise in metaphysical reasoning:
This process, called radical doubt, is the engine of metafisica.
Today, Metafisica is experiencing a vibrant renaissance. Three unexpected allies have revived it.