what are metaphysical beliefs?

Answer 1

First a historical side note: The word 'metaphysics' originated with the folks who collected the works of Aristotle into a book. They had a bunch of essays left over that didn't seem to fit in their other chapters, so they put them together in a chapter which they placed just after the chapter on physics. "Meta" means after, and physics refers to the laws regarding the motions of material bodies. So "metaphysics" literally means "after physics" – referring to the chapter that came after physics in Aristotle's work.

But fortunately this chapter dealt with the nature of reality, so the name works well with the more common sense of the word today, namely, the idea of "beyond" physics – as in the idea of dealing with reality beyond the level that science can deal with it. Often this involves the non-physical or spiritual, which is why you often find metaphysics lumped together with religion/spirituality in bookstores. It is also why metaphysics, for a lot of people, gets conflated with the idea of New Age spirituality. This is NOT the philosophical use of the term, but it has become common usage. Actual metaphysics, as philosophers use the term is an incredibly rigorous, mind-boggling, deep exploration into the nature of Being and the limits of human reason. Common metaphysics of the New Age variety is often starry-eyed speculation without much concern for the rigors of logic – often falling into the realm of mere opinion with very little concern for the clarity of terms, etc.

In academic philosophy, metaphysics is one of several broad branches of philosophy:

Logic: The rules of argumentation, distinguishing valid from invalid forms of argument.

Ethics: The distinction between right/wrong, good/evil, moral/immoral.


Epistemology: The nature of knowledge. How can we know things? What is knowledge? What is truth?

Aesthetic: The nature of beauty and art.

Metaphysics: The nature of reality. What is real? What exists? What does it mean to say that something exists or does not exist? How can we refer to something that does not exist? (If what we are referring to does not exist, then what is the nature of what we are referring to?) The study of being. What does it mean to "be"? Ontology is a branch or form of metaphysics that focuses on the question of what exists. If you made a list of everything that exists, what kinds of things would or would not be included on this list?

Answer 2

Your belief is unfounded (at least regarding the existence of primordial chaos as a discrete entity in the universe), and should be disregarded. That being said, it likely affects your view of the world , and therefore, your social beliefs. Though social values are created by societies of people, that doesn't mean that they are not valuable or enforceable upon others. @Greengo The Origin of Species was banned by the Nazi party well before WWII. Hitler was a Roman Catholic, who opposed it on religious and ideological reasons. The theory of evolution by natural selection has nothing to do with eugenics. Genes aren't selected for through one's social success, but through one's reproductive success. I don't see why creationists make this connection. You have a very poor understanding of the theory Besides, you just invoked Godwin's Law. Congrats, your argument fails.

Answer 3

Metaphysics or the Nature of Reality deals with external objects, and with beings(Ontology) This includes God and human beings.

Answer 4

To disbelieve in the physical......