~ Metaphysics ~
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Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy (and not science as is popularly but incorrectly assumed) that concerns itself with the fundamental knowledge of existence and reality. In addition, metaphysics tackles issues pertaining to consciousness, the study of being (ontology) and identity, the nature and matter of the universe (cosmology), the origin and evolution of the universe (cosmogany), and the philosophical issues of quantum physics such as spacetime and infinity. The distinguishing features between metaphysics and quantum (or classical) physics is that quantum physics is a science that deals with the scientific
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study of the issues, while metaphysics is a philosophy that deals with the knowledge of and about those issues.
Metaphysics tries to answer fundamental questions such as how do we know what is real, or whether we know that we actually exist in the world? Or what exactly is consciousness and where does it go when we go. How infinite is infinity and are there more then the Euclidian perspective of three dimensions? While they are both philosophical domains of knowledge, metaphysics differs from epistemology in that the later concerns itself with the study of knowledge itself and specifically how we know what is true, whereas metaphysics concerns itself with knowledge about existence and what is real. A relatively easy way to distinguish between the two is to remember that meta is Greek for beyond and physics is the Greek word for the physical or material, hence, dealing with issues related to being in, of, and beyond the world itself (existence, consciousness, being).
Metaphysics tries to answer fundamental questions such as how do we know what is real, or whether we know that we actually exist in the world? Or what exactly is consciousness and where does it go when we go. How infinite is infinity and are there more then the Euclidian perspective of three dimensions? While they are both philosophical domains of knowledge, metaphysics differs from epistemology in that the later concerns itself with the study of knowledge itself and specifically how we know what is true, whereas metaphysics concerns itself with knowledge about existence and what is real. A relatively easy way to distinguish between the two is to remember that meta is Greek for beyond and physics is the Greek word for the physical or material, hence, dealing with issues related to being in, of, and beyond the world itself (existence, consciousness, being).
Aristotle was perhaps the first to write about metaphysics despite the fact he never actually called it as such. The field itself has an interesting if not rather winding history; it has gone from the literal study of existence and the beyond, through the interest and study of religion, God specifically, and thanks to Descartes, back to the realm of the knowledge of existence and his famously phrased cogito ergo sum ('I think therefore I am'), not to mention the myriad thinkers, metaphysical questions, and schools of thought in-between . The early empiricists for example, believed that the only valid method of addressing metaphysical questions was in subjecting them to math and science, frowning on the intuitive ways the early metaphysics staunchly believed in, while the positivists believed the only true source of knowing anything had to come through sensory experience which only then then be subjected to and verified by empirical reason and logic. It can be said that these different theoretical models throughout the ages, were the epistemological arguments of metaphysical issues. In modern times there are numerous divergent philosophical leanings and schools of thought within the realm of metaphysics.
One particular area of metaphysics is that of simulacrum, from the Latin meaning 'likeness' or 'similarity'. During the days of the Holy Roman Empire (17th - 18th C), Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz gave us the Law of the Indiscernability of Identicles, (in whose complex title far outweighs the complexity of its law), which states quite simply that if some object 'x' is the same as object 'y', then it must be true that any property of 'x' must also be a property of 'y'. Leibniz's Law tries to answer the metaphysical question of identity. If something has a solid identity then surely it can be readily discernible from its likeness. But maybe not. An interesting thought experiment (refer to the tab on epistemology) related to the metaphysics of identity, is Plutarch's Ship of the Theseus. Plutarch described a ship he named the Theseus that remained seaworthy for a hundred years. Every time a part of the ship rusted or fell into disrepair, it was replaced with a newer part. Over the course of the many decades, every single solitary part of the ship was a replacement from the original part until after 100 years the entire ship was made of replacement parts. Plutarch's question is whether or not this ship is the same as the original ship or is it in fact a completely different ship then the original? Some years later, Thomas Hobbs added to the question by asking, if someone took all the original parts of the Theseus and put them together to form another ship, which of the two ships is the real Theseus?
While cosmology is a branch of astronomy, understanding the fundamental reality of the universe is under the philosophical domain of metaphysics, and part of those questions deal with space, time, and infinity. Emile Borel was a French mathematician whose Infinite Monkey Theorem is a popular and elegantly simply thought experiment on the metaphysical nature of timelessness and infinity. It goes something like this; let's say that you happen to have a room filled with an infinite number of monkeys. Let's also say that in that room you happen to have an infinite number of typewriters (remember those?). If you then allowed all those monkeys to randomly tap the keys on all of those typewriters over an infinite amount of time, would the monkeys eventually (no matter how long it took) type out the completed works of Shakespeare?
According to the science of time measurement (AKA horology), we know that time is measured based upon motion. For example, a year is defined by the amount of time it takes for the earth to revolve one time around the sun, while a day is measured by the amount of time it takes for the earth to rotate once on its axis. So if time freezes, if motion stands still, does it mean that time has stopped? And further, if no one was around to witness what happened, was there any change at all? By definition, time is measured according to change since change necessitates motion. In Sydney Shoemaker's classic 1969 article Time Without Change, he writes that The claim that time involves change must of course be distinguished from the truism that change involves time. It is here that he concocted the elaborate and beautifully executed thought experiment on the metaphysics of time and change, appropriately titled Time Without Change. He describes it as follows:
According to the science of time measurement (AKA horology), we know that time is measured based upon motion. For example, a year is defined by the amount of time it takes for the earth to revolve one time around the sun, while a day is measured by the amount of time it takes for the earth to rotate once on its axis. So if time freezes, if motion stands still, does it mean that time has stopped? And further, if no one was around to witness what happened, was there any change at all? By definition, time is measured according to change since change necessitates motion. In Sydney Shoemaker's classic 1969 article Time Without Change, he writes that The claim that time involves change must of course be distinguished from the truism that change involves time. It is here that he concocted the elaborate and beautifully executed thought experiment on the metaphysics of time and change, appropriately titled Time Without Change. He describes it as follows:
Consider a small, spatially finite possible world that is divided into three zones, A, B, and C. In Zone A, there is a complete freeze — a cessation of all change — for one hour every 2 years. These local freezes in Zone A are preceded by a short period in which every object in A takes on a reddish glow (observable to the occupants of all three zones), while at the same time a temporary force field develops at the boundary of Zone A, preventing anything from entering or exiting that zone during the freeze. While the freeze in Zone A is taking place, Zone A appears to those in Zones B and C to be pitch black, since no light can enter or exit the frozen zone; but as soon as the local freeze in Zone A is over, the people in the other two zones can again see everything in Zone A, and can in fact see those things resuming their normal behaviors without missing a beat. To those who remain in Zone A for the freeze, it appears that the reddish glowing and the development of the force field are immediately followed, not by any cessation of change, but, instead, by a large number of sudden and discontinuous changes in the other two zones.
Meanwhile, In Zone B there is a similar freeze for one hour every 3 years, and in Zone C there is a freeze for one hour every 5 years. The inhabitants of this strange world quickly become aware of the local freezes, and they have no trouble calculating the “freeze function” for each of the three zones. What's more, they also calculate that there is a global freeze — a period during which each one of the three zones undergoes a local freeze — exactly once every 30 years. Whenever a global freeze occurs, of course, no one is able to see any frozen objects or blacked-out zones, since everyone and everything is frozen at the same time. But the reddish glowing and the development of temporary force fields that precede each world-wide freeze are observable to everyone; and so the global freeze times come to be celebrated by “empty time parties” all over the world.
No doubt the inhabitants of this unusual world could come up with a theory that explains the local freezes in a way that doesn't posit any empty time. For they could theorize that in Zone A there is a local freeze every two years, except for the 30th year, when there is no freeze; and similarly for the other zones. But such a theory would involve freezing functions that are more complicated than those that entail a global freeze every 30 years.
Meanwhile, In Zone B there is a similar freeze for one hour every 3 years, and in Zone C there is a freeze for one hour every 5 years. The inhabitants of this strange world quickly become aware of the local freezes, and they have no trouble calculating the “freeze function” for each of the three zones. What's more, they also calculate that there is a global freeze — a period during which each one of the three zones undergoes a local freeze — exactly once every 30 years. Whenever a global freeze occurs, of course, no one is able to see any frozen objects or blacked-out zones, since everyone and everything is frozen at the same time. But the reddish glowing and the development of temporary force fields that precede each world-wide freeze are observable to everyone; and so the global freeze times come to be celebrated by “empty time parties” all over the world.
No doubt the inhabitants of this unusual world could come up with a theory that explains the local freezes in a way that doesn't posit any empty time. For they could theorize that in Zone A there is a local freeze every two years, except for the 30th year, when there is no freeze; and similarly for the other zones. But such a theory would involve freezing functions that are more complicated than those that entail a global freeze every 30 years.
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A popular thought experiment based upon the metaphysical proposition of reality is The Brain in a Vat. In his Meditations on the First Philosophy, Rene Descartes wanted to prove whether or not he could distinguish the reality of his own perceptions from an illusion. In the modern version of a Brain in a Vat, you are asked to imagine that your brain has been ripped from your body and placed inside a fluid-filled vat that enables the brain to stay alive absent its body. Attached to your brain are various and sundry electrodes that connect to an outside computer that enables it to simulate all of the images and sensations that you would see and know if your brain were still on your body. The question is, how would you be able to tell whether or not the world was real, or something that was simulated
was simulated through a computer program? The Brain in a Vat thought experiment addresses the metaphysical issue of reality.
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Metaphysics has become ever more popular as we continue to develop amazing new technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics, adding to the popular culture in motion pictures from Fritz Lang's 1927 Metropolis and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, to The Matrix, and Ex Machina, each of which have their roots set squarely in the realm of the metaphysical.
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