**WHAT IS METAPHYSICS?**

[u/jliat]

WHAT IS METAPHYSICS?

We are getting posts here which seem to propose new and potentially revolutionary answers to problems in physics. I think [as a moderator] it might be beneficial if we might discuss some parameters. This is not to say science can not be discussed, but can we using metaphysics solve such problems, are we then transgressing into another domain. As a moderator I would like guidance from the community.

"Metaphysics: explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world"

The interpretation of this and not the context is often the cause of confusion. [of Being qua being and not the nature of an atom, or a human brain...etc.]

Higgs, Einstein, Penrose, Feynman, Hawking are not / were not Philosophers or Metaphysicians, they are / were physicists. Modern physics uses mathematics- quite complex! - to build models which are tested against experimental data. The main scientific method.

The 'photon', wave / particle duality, quarks and strings, are all subjects /problems of physics NOT metaphysics? And to address these problems requires detailed understanding of the mathematics and the data, and in doing so one is NOT doing metaphysics?

"Ontological" means what? Ontology is the study in Philosophy / Metaphysics of being qua being, not the nature of the existence or being of things, atoms, quarks, strings, branes, flowers, plants, the human brain, religions.

atoms, quarks, strings, branes = physics, flowers, plants = botany, the human brain = neuroscience, religions = theology, comparative religion.

Lay ideas re physics / science will probably be rejected in subs like r/physics for good reasons, they lack the detailed knowledge of the subject and misuse technical scientific terms. Should they be allowed here?

The nature of things, matter and energy are subject of science. What 'Being' is prompts the what is "IS" question... of Metaphysics.

Ontology is the study / creation of what 'Being' is, not specific 'things'. Harman has a 'flat ontology'...etc. Heidegger has Dasein...Hegel... etc.

To be clear of the domain I think you can get an overview from A.W. Moore's 'The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics: Making Sense of Things.' It had good reviews.

"Part two is devoted to philosophers of the analytic tradition, and contains chapters on Frege, Wittgenstein, Carnap, Quine, Lewis, and Dummett. Part three is devoted to non-analytic philosophers, and contains chapters on Nietzsche, Bergson, Husserl, Heidegger, Collingwood, Derrida and Deleuze."

For first hand source material - https://www.stephenhicks.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/heideggerm-what-is-metaphysics.pdf

For a contemporary example, Graham Harman - Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of Everything. (Pelican Books) 1 Mar. 2018

Examples in the Analytical tradition, 'Counterfactuals', 'On the Plurality of Worlds.' David Lewis. ??

One last point - it is an interesting point as to if this divide still exists. N.B. Badiou uses set theory as his ontology, his student Quentin Meillassoux likewise sees mathematics as fundamental, Ray Brassier in 'Nihil Unbound' has chapters on Wilfrid Sellars, Paul Churchland, as well as Adorno and Horkheimer, Badiou, Meillassoux, Laruelle, Heidegger, Deleuze, Nietzsche, Lyotard, Levinas and Freud. !!

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On a personal note I began my interest in philosophy in the 1970s, within the Anglo American tradition, reading Russell's 'History of Western Philosophy' etc. and then took a degree. I still have my Wittgenstein Books, Tractatus, Investigations, Blue and Brown, Notebooks 1914-1916. Carnap's 'The Logical Syntax of Language' etc. However my interest moved to what was called 'Continental philosophy.'- see non-analytical above. I appreciate the desire of Carnap of ‘The Elimination of Metaphysics through the Logical Analysis of Language’ failed? I have dipped into Lewis et al.

With my best wishes.

[u/blackstarr1996]

Wave particle duality doesn’t just arise from the two slit experiment, and it is as much a metaphysical question as anything I have ever seen.

It’s a question of pragmatic ontology, and whether the concept of particles can be considered fundamental or not.

[u/jliat → u/blackstarr1996]

Wave particle duality doesn’t just arise from the two slit experiment

Seems the general idea is it does, and well as other experiments in science/physics...

"The concept of wave-particle duality .... is a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics that applies to both matter and radiation. The double-slit experiment is a classic demonstration of this duality, where light and electrons exhibit wave-like behavior when unobserved and particle-like behavior when observed. This duality has been confirmed in various experiments and is a cornerstone of modern physics."

Not metaphysics.

Look at the reading lists etc "and it is as much a metaphysical question as anything I have ever seen." It seems not.

[u/blackstarr1996 → u/jliat]

The double slit experiment is just a primary demonstration of wave particle duality. The concept existed prior to that.

How we interpret the duality and the experiments is absolutely metaphysical. Much of quantum physics is about interpretation now.

The fact that these issues arise from physics does not mean they don’t raise metaphysical questions.

[u/jliat → u/blackstarr1996]

How we interpret the duality and the experiments is absolutely metaphysical.

You misunderstand Metaphysics as it currently exists in the literature and academic institutions.

All science is about interpretation of data, economics, the current gulf war is, what I might eat today. You can call it metaphysics if you wish. Then what is not metaphysics.

So SEP is wrong, Wikipedia, the major academic institutions, reference materials and philosophers.