the philosophical study of being and knowing
"The professor spent the entire lecture debating how metaphysics shapes our understanding of reality beyond mere physical observation."
The branch of philosophy which studies fundamental principles intended to describe or explain all that is, and which are not themselves explained by anything more fundamental; the study of first principles; the study of being insofar as it is being (ens in quantum ens).
"The professor insisted that we read at least three key papers on the history of metaphysics before our final exam."
plural of metaphysic
The word "metaphysics" entered English in the 1560s from Medieval Latin and Old French, tracing back to Byzantine Greek. It originally referred to a collection of Aristotle's writings titled "After the Physics," indicating that these works came after his treatise on nature.