what is metaphysics metaphysics is traditionally defined as that branch of philosophy which deals with the most general and abstract questions such as those pertaining to the nature of existence the categories of space and time the existence of god or the immortality of the human soul metaphysics therefore seeks to provide a comprehensive account of the world that is proof against the uncertainties of experience the term metaphysics is supposedly derived from the greek words ta metatar physica which means the work after the physics or in other words the treatise by aristotle that was catalogued after his physics in some lost library as is well known aristotle's metaphysics which he himself called first philosophy is one of the earliest fetuses on the subject and has had immense influence on the entire history of western philosophy it might also be said to come after the physics in that it offers a systematic account of the categories employed by physics defined as the study of physicist or nature in that sense metaphysics is to physics as meta language is to language at the heart of the book lie three questions 1. what is existence and what sorts of things exist in the world 2. how can things continue to exist and yet undergo the change we see about us in the natural world and 3. how can this world be understood although it was long considered to be the most noble branch of philosophy metaphysics has come under attack from a variety of quarters in the 20th century and its very existence has been called into question on the one hand developments in the natural sciences mean that questions pertaining to space and time are now a matter for mathematicians and theoretical physicists rather than speculative philosophers the developments within philosophy itself and especially the so-called linguistic turn mean on the other hand that the traditional concerns of metaphysics are often viewed as problems that arise from the misuse of language for the logical positivists of the vienna circle metaphysics is viewed as a derogatory term to be applied to speculative or unverifiable statements such as god exists indeed for many of the theorists associated with analytic philosophy and ordinary language philosophy metaphysical problems are simply a product of the ambiguities of language for the philosophers associated with these traditions the task of philosophy is therefore to arrive at a better understanding of concepts through a better understanding of language that will rid philosophy of metaphysical pseudo-problems jack derrida and the practitioners of deconstruction tend to use the term metaphysics or western metaphysics as a synonym for philosophy itself and hold that it is the most dangerous manifestation of logocentrism you