Metaphysics…an Introduction Some Guiding Questions: What is Reality? What is a personal identity? Is there a Supreme Being? What is the meaning of life?

What is Reality?  Brainstorm 5-10 points

What is a personal identity?  Brainstorm 5-10 ideas:

Is there a Supreme Being? Yes/No? How do we know?  Brainstorm 5-10 ideas:

What is the meaning of life?  Brainstorm 5-10 ideas:

And on a deeper level…  How is reality structured?  What is freedom?  What is the relationship between mind and body?  What is the difference between being and nothingness?

Before we can ‘answer’ these questions, we need to review key terms, ideas and theories. And remember…

The Importance of Reason.  For the most part, philosophers interested in metaphysics don’t trust information gathered by the senses  They tend to rely on an ‘a priori’ approach to ‘answer’ the big questions, focusing on reasoning rather than on sensory information

Theory #1: MATERIALISM  Reality ultimately consists of matter  Matter can be atoms or energy force fields, or anything that is not mind-like, intelligent or conscious  Materialists argue that thoughts, mind, intelligence and self (etc.) are just complex material phenomena (Think pre-Socratic thinkers)

Theory #2: (Platonic) REALISM  reality consists of ideal forms or ideas that are timeless  Ideal forms are unchanging, immaterial and MORE perfect than what we can experience using our senses (think the Allegory of the Cave)

Theory #3: Idealism  Denies the existence of material things  Reality consists of ideas and the minds that house them “The empirical world does not exist independently of the human mind and hence can only be known according to our conceptions of it. Its opposite is materialism.” (George Berkeley)

Idealism, continued…  Reality is mental, intelligent or thought-like  One, all-encompassing absolute mind of which your own mind is a part  Physical objects are manifestations of minds or intelligences rather than material things independent of mind  There are many versions of idealism, but all agree that mind is reality

Theory #4: MONISM  Reality is ultimately one unified, all- encompassing thing (mind or matter)  All particular things are transient manifestations, modifications or expressions of this ONE thing  Spinoza was a famous monist

2 Interpretations of Monism Materialists’ Monism  The ONE thing is entirely MATERIAL Idealists’ Monism  The ONE thing is entirely MENTAL

and contrary to MONISM is… DUALISM

Theory #5: DUALISM  Reality consists of TWO fundamentally different kinds of things: MINDS AND MATTER (mental states) (physical states)

Dualism continued…  There are various kinds of dualism  Rene Descartes is a substance dualist  Argued that reality consists of 2 fundamentally different kinds of substances: THINKING THINGS (minds) and THINGS THAT TAKE UP SPACE  These substances causally interact

While metaphysical theories differ, two key concepts are often debated… SUBSTANCE  Something that has an independent existence  The basic element of which things are made and may be either mental or material ESSENCE  The fundamental nature of a thing, its unchanging blueprint, the thing that makes it what it is