more from this thinker     |     more from this text

Single Idea 21962

[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 4. Metaphysics as Science ]

Full Idea

The whole of philosophy is like a tree. The roots are metaphysics, the trunk is physics, and the branches emerging from the trunk are all the other sciences.

Gist of Idea

Metaphysics is the roots of the tree of science

Source

René Descartes (Preface to 'Principles of Philosophy' [1647]), quoted by A.W. Moore - The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics 01.2

Book Ref

Moore,A.W.: 'The Evolution of Modern Metaphysics' [CUP 2013], p.28

A Reaction

If Descartes had not believed this he would not have bothered with metaphysics, and philosophy might have been dead by 1650.

The 25 ideas with the same theme [metaphysics as physical science at the highest level]:

12123 Natural history supports physical knowledge, which supports metaphysical knowledge [Bacon]
21962 Metaphysics is the roots of the tree of science [Descartes]
7653 I am just an under-labourer, clearing the ground in preparation for knowledge [Locke]
16710 Leibniz tried to combine mechanistic physics with scholastic metaphysics [Leibniz, by Pasnau]
21366 Metaphysics must understand the world thoroughly, as a principal source of knowledge [Schopenhauer]
14799 Metaphysics rests on observations, but ones so common we hardly notice them [Peirce]
21582 Physicists accept particles, points and instants, while pretending they don't do metaphysics [Russell]
6095 The business of metaphysics is to describe the world [Russell]
22153 Quine rejects Carnap's view that science and philosophy are distinct [Quine, by Boulter]
22438 Philosophy is largely concerned with finding the minimum that science could get by with [Quine]
6891 Quine's naturalistic and empirical view is based entirely on first-order logic and set theory [Quine, by Mautner]
15477 Ontology is highly abstract physics, containing placeholders and exclusions [Martin,CB]
15670 The aim of 'post-metaphysical' philosophy is to interpret the sciences [Habermas, by Finlayson]
13567 Ontology should give insight into or an explanation of the world revealed by science [Ellis]
4194 Metaphysics is concerned with the fundamental structure of reality as a whole [Lowe]
14977 Metaphysics is not about what exists or is true or essential; it is about the structure of reality [Sider]
14994 Extreme doubts about metaphysics also threaten to undermine the science of unobservables [Sider]
16241 The metaphysics of nature should focus on physics [Maudlin]
14904 Metaphysics builds consilience networks across science [Ladyman/Ross]
14907 Progress in metaphysics must be tied to progress in science [Ladyman/Ross]
14908 Metaphysics must involve at least two scientific hypotheses, one fundamental, and add to explanation [Ladyman/Ross]
14910 Some science is so general that it is metaphysical [Ladyman/Ross]
14940 Cutting-edge physics has little to offer metaphysics [Ladyman/Ross]
14945 The aim of metaphysics is to unite the special sciences with physics [Ladyman/Ross]
22138 Science rests on scholastic metaphysics, not on Hume, Kant or Carnap [Boulter]