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Philosophy

<OpenstaxFigure id="fig-00001" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/15ce18c781562936d9bc427053b989f1ddafb6be" alt="An acorn is on a branch surrounded by oak leaves." mediaType="image/jepg" width="1750" height="803" />
<OpenstaxFigureText width="1750">
	<strong>Figure 6.1</strong> Being and Becoming. The acorn and the oak allow us to frame several metaphysical questions. Are there first causes? Do things have essences? Do things develop along a predetermined path? (credit: “Acorn” by Shaun Fisher/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
</OpenstaxFigureText>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Defining <OpenstaxTerm>metaphysics</OpenstaxTerm> is difficult. On a summary level, one possible definition is that metaphysics is the field of philosophy concerned with identifying that which is real. You may wonder why any reasonable person would invest time pursuing an answer to that which, at first glance, seems obvious. But on deeper inspection of the world around you, it can be challenging to identify what is real.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Consider the acorn. As you probably learned through life science, an acorn is destined to become an oak. If you were to look at the acorn and compare it to the oak, you would see two radically different things. How can a thing change and remain the same thing?
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Aristotle offers insight into how the acorn and the oak represent change but within the same being. Within Aristotle’s thinking, each being has a specific end or purpose. As <OpenstaxEm>telos</OpenstaxEm> is Greek for “end” (<OpenstaxEm>end</OpenstaxEm> as target or goal), this view is known as <OpenstaxEm>teleological</OpenstaxEm>. In addition, each being is described as having a specific function (ergon) by which that being seeks the proper end.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	In the case of an oak tree, the oak tree works from its acorn to the fullness of the oak. Aristotle describes the becoming as movement from a state of <OpenstaxTerm>potentiality</OpenstaxTerm> to <OpenstaxTerm>actuality</OpenstaxTerm>. You might say that which is most real concerning the oak stands beneath the movement from acorn to oak. The movement from potentiality toward actuality is one method to make sense of change while maintaining a constant or underlying sense of true being.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	As you will discover, the topic of metaphysics is far-reaching and broaches many questions.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxUl>
	<OpenstaxLi>
		What is real?
	</OpenstaxLi>
	<OpenstaxLi>
		What is being?
	</OpenstaxLi>
	<OpenstaxLi>
		Is there a purpose to our being?
	</OpenstaxLi>
	<OpenstaxLi>
		What is the self?
	</OpenstaxLi>
	<OpenstaxLi>
		Is there a God?
	</OpenstaxLi>
	<OpenstaxLi>
		Do human beings (however defined) possess free will?
	</OpenstaxLi>
</OpenstaxUl>
<OpenstaxParagraph>
	Metaphysical questions tend not to be resting points but starting points. This chapter begins to explore many simple yet interrelated questions as part of seeking the real.
</OpenstaxParagraph>
<OpenstaxFigure id="fig-00002" src="https://openstax.org/apps/archive/20240226.174525/resources/d435499633ae456662e3d179808989370e2b4093" alt="The first page of Aristotle’s book shows the title, Ton Meta Ta Physika at the top of the page with text following below." mediaType="image/jpeg" width="540" height="800" />
<OpenstaxFigureText width="540">
	<strong>Figure 6.2</strong> The term metaphysics comes from Aristotle’s book of the same name. The opening sentence translates as “All men by nature desire to know.” Our desire to lay bare the deepest and most discrete understanding of reality is at the heart of metaphysics. (credit: “Aristotle: Metaphysica, first page in Immanuel Bekker’s edition, 1837.” by Wikimedia, Public Doman)
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6 Metaphysics

1 Introduction to Philosophy

1.1 What Is Philosophy?

1.1.1 Historical Origins of Philosophy

1.1.2 How It All Hangs Together

1.2 How Do Philosophers Arrive at Truth?

1.2.1 Sources of Evidence

1.2.2 Logic

1.2.3 Conceptual Analysis

1.2.4 Trade-offs

1.3 Socrates as a Paradigmatic Historical Philosopher

1.3.1 “The Life Which Is Unexamined Is Not Worth Living”

1.3.2 Human Wisdom Is Worth Little or Nothing

1.3.3 The Importance of Doing No Harm

1.4 An Overview of Contemporary Philosophy

1.4.1 What Can You Do with a Philosophy Major?

1.4.2 An Overview of Your Philosophy Textbook

2 Critical Thinking, Research, Reading, and Writing

2.1 The Brain Is an Inference Machine

2.1.1 The Brain’s Adaptive Ability to Plan Ahead

2.1.2 The Evolutionary Advantage of Shortcuts

2.2 Overcoming Cognitive Biases and Engaging in Critical Reflection

2.2.1 Critical Reflection and Metacognition

2.2.2 Cognitive Biases

2.3 Developing Good Habits of Mind

2.3.1 Strive for Objectivity

2.3.2 Adopt Epistemic Humility

2.4 Gathering Information, Evaluating Sources, and Understanding Evidence

2.4.1 Start with a Strong Foundation

2.4.2 The SIFT Method (Four Moves for Student Fact Checkers)

2.5 Reading Philosophy

2.5.1 Prepare to Read

2.5.2 Engaging with Philosophical Texts

2.5.3 Pre-reading

2.5.4 First Read

2.5.5 Close Read

2.6 Writing Philosophy Papers

2.6.1 Identify Claims

2.6.2 Collect Evidence and Build Your Case

2.6.3 Organize Your Paper

3 The Early History of Philosophy around the World

3.1 Indigenous Philosophy

3.1.1 Challenges in Researching Indigenous Philosophy

3.1.2 Indigenous African Philosophy

3.1.3 Indigenous North American Philosophical Thought

3.1.4 Mesoamerican Philosophy

3.2 Classical Indian Philosophy

3.2.1 The Vedic Tradition

3.2.2 Classical Indian Darshanas

3.3 Classical Chinese Philosophy

3.3.1 Early Chinese Philosophical Thought prior to Confucius

3.3.2 Confucianism

3.3.3 Daoism

3.3.4 Mohism

4 The Emergence of Classical Philosophy

4.1 Historiography and the History of Philosophy

4.1.1 Presentist Approach

4.1.2 Contextualist Approach

4.1.3 Hermeneutic Approach

4.2 Classical Philosophy

4.2.1 Egyptian Origins of Classical Philosophy

4.2.2 Ancient Greek Philosophy

4.2.3 The Presocratics

4.2.4 Socrates and Plato

4.2.5 Aristotle

4.2.6 Epicureans

4.2.7 Roman Philosophy

4.3 Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Philosophy

4.3.1 Defining Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Philosophy

4.3.2 Early Jewish Philosophy

4.3.3 Early Christian Philosophy

4.3.4 Islamic Philosophy

4.3.5 Late Medieval Philosophy in Christian Europe

4.3.6 Jewish Philosophers in the Christian and Islamic Worlds

4.3.7 The Rise of Reason in the Early Modern Era

5 Logic and Reasoning

5.1 Philosophical Methods for Discovering Truth

5.1.1 Dialectics and Philosophical Argumentation

5.1.2 The Use of Reason to Discover Truth

5.1.3 Testing Hypotheses

5.1.4 Laws of Logic

5.1.5 Normativity in Logic

5.2 Logical Statements

5.2.1 Conditionals

5.2.2 Universal Statements

5.3 Arguments

5.3.1 Getting to the Premises

5.3.2 The Difference between Truth and Logic

5.4 Types of Inferences

5.4.1 Deductive Reasoning

5.4.2 Inductive Inferences

5.4.3 Abductive Reasoning

5.5 Informal Fallacies

5.5.1 Fallacies of Relevance

5.5.2 Fallacies of Weak Induction

5.5.3 Fallacies of Unwarranted Assumption

5.5.4 Fallacies of Diversion

6.1 Substance

6.1.1 Fundamentality: The One and the Many

6.1.2 Ontological Perspectives on Substance

Question	Answer
in Aristotelian thought, the level to which a being has realized its purpose.	Actuality
the field of philosophy concerned with identifying that which is real.	Metaphysics
in Aristotelian thought, the level to which a being’s purpose might reach.	Potentiality