Part 2: Metaphysics

The world of our everyday experience is awe-inspiring in its complexity, beauty, diversity, order, and abundance. The universe consists of billions and billions of galaxies, each of which has billions and billions of stars. The distance from one end of the universe to the other can be measured only in terms of light years, and the distance is staggering. Focusing in on our solar system, there too we find a fascinating place consisting of ringed planets, asteroid belts, moons, a medium-sized star (the sun), and on earth, life. The diversity of life on earth is truly amazing: plants, such as Kentucky bluegrass, a rose bush, an oak tree; and animals, such as single-celled amoebas, worms, squirrels, horses, giraffes, humans. Yet even here we find unity too; the flora and fauna of this world can be classified into natural classes of things. All of it—the earth and its inhabitants, the solar system, the galaxies—form an integrated whole, or so it seems.

The world is perplexing too. What kinds of things are these objects of our everyday experience? Moreover, how do they fit together? How is it that we find unity amid such diversity? Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that asks and tries to answer such questions. The subject matter of metaphysics is “being” itself. In other words, metaphysics is the philosophical study of the nature and structure of reality. In this section, we will explore some of the big questions that surface when we begin to seek to understand the world of everyday experience.

We begin our exploration of metaphysics in chapter 7 with the question of ultimate reality. Is reality, at rock bottom, something physical, nonphysical, or both? A common story today, given the hegemony of science, is that the only kinds of things that exist are material things. On this story, the universe—meaning the concrete material reality—is all there is. Others have argued for a richer view of reality. On these dualistic accounts, there is more to reality than the concrete material reality. In addition to physical things, there exist abstract things or mental things or immaterial things. Others—the idealists—say (along with the materialists) that there is only one kind of thing, but that one kind of thing is not material: instead, everything is mental.

Moving on, a key observation is that there are charactered objects in the world. Consider a dog, Fido. Fido is a thing, a particular, that has characteristics. One important question metaphysics asks and seeks to answer is this: In addition to charactered objects, are there characteristics? Chapter 8 explores the question of characteristics—properties—and what reasons there are to think they exist. Chapter 9 picks up the character-objects thread, exploring different ways philosophers have understood the notion of being a composite object.

We humans, of course, are part of reality. We exist, and it is natural to ask, What kind of thing are we? What does it mean to be a human, a person, and a human person? Moreover, are we significantly free such that, in some sense, we are self-determiners of our character and actions? Or are we in some way determined by the laws of nature or even God to act as we do? Do we have, in addition to our bodies, a soul—an immaterial part—that can survive the death of our bodies? In other words, is it reasonable to think that the afterlife is possible? These questions will be explored in chapters 10 and 11.

These aren’t the only questions metaphysics deals with, but they are a good start. Other distinctly metaphysical topics not directly addressed here include the nature of space and time, the question of persistence and change over time, causation, modality, and more.