Definition of "metaphysics" []

• Philosophy The branch of philosophy that examines the nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and matter, substance and attribute, fact and value. (noun)
• The theoretical or first principles of a particular discipline: the metaphysics of law. (noun)
• A priori speculation upon questions that are unanswerable to scientific observation, analysis, or experiment. (noun)
• Excessively subtle or recondite reasoning. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "This use of the term metaphysics is unfortunate because it rests on Descartes's false assumption that the method in metaphysics is subjective, in other words, that all the conclusions of metaphysics are based on the study of subjective, or mental, phenemona."
• "The term metaphysics, as used by one school of philosophers, is narrowed down to mean the science of mental phenomena and of the laws of mind, In this sense, it is employed, for instance, by Hamilton"
• "It is in this sense that the "Revue de métaphysique et de morale" (see bibliography) uses the term metaphysics in its title."