metaphysics
/ˌmetəˈfɪzɪks/plural noun
usu. treated as sing.
1- the branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space形而上学, 形上学, 玄学。
1.1
- abstract theory or talk with no basis in reality抽象理论; 空谈, 空头理论：
his concept of society as an organic entity is, for market liberals, simply metaphysics.
对于自由市场论者来说, 把社会看成是有机实体的观点纯粹是空头理论。
Metaphysics has two main strands: that which holds that what exists lies beyond experience (as argued by Plato), and that which holds that objects of experience constitute the only reality （as argued by Kant, the logical positivists, and Hume）. Metaphysics has also concerned itself with a discussion of whether what exists is made of one substance or many, and whether what exists is inevitable or driven by chance.
派生词
metaphysician
noun词源
mid 16th cent.: representing medieval Latin metaphysica (neuter plural), based on Greek ta meta ta phusika 'the things after the Physics'， referring to the sequence of Aristotle's works: the title came to denote the branch of study treated in the books, later interpreted as meaning 'the science of things transcending what is physical or natural'.