Metaphysics (Aristotle)

Metaphysics (from the Greek ta meta ta physika, meaning "the things after the physics"; in Latin, Metaphysica) is a major work by Aristotle, where he lays out what he calls "First Philosophy." It is a collection of separate texts that explore abstract topics—such as the theory of substance, types of causation, form and matter, mathematical objects, and the cosmos—which together form much of the field later known as metaphysics.

Date, style and composition

The work’s title comes from its placement in the arrangement of Aristotle’s writings by Andronicus of Rhodes in the first century BC. The treatises were placed "after" the Physics, giving them the name Metaphysics.

Some scholars, like Eduard Zeller, Werner Jaeger, and Jonathan Barnes, think "meta" suggests the subject goes "beyond" the Physics or is metatheoretical. Others, including Alexander Grant, W. D. Ross, and modern commentators, argue it simply refers to the work’s position in the canonical order, which may date back to Andronicus or even Hermippus of Smyrna. In Aristotle’s other surviving works, these treatises are called "the writings concerning first philosophy," his own term for the subject.

Dating the Metaphysics is notoriously difficult. As Jonathan Barnes puts it, the work is "a farrago, a hotch-potch," and the order of its books is unknown—later editors arranged them. In manuscripts, the books are labeled with Greek letters, and scholars often refer to them that way: Alpha (Α), little alpha (α), Beta (Β), Gamma (Γ), Delta (Δ), Epsilon (Ε), Zeta (Ζ), Eta (Η), Theta (Θ), Iota (Ι), Kappa (Κ), Lambda (Λ), Mu (Μ), and Nu (Ν).

The first six books (Alpha through Epsilon) cover several topics. Book Alpha discusses knowledge, arguing it comes from memory through experience, and defines wisdom as knowledge of first principles or causes. The wise know the why of things, can teach, and are fit to command. It then surveys earlier philosophers, from Ionian material monists to Plato.

Book little alpha addresses a possible objection—that seeking first principles leads to an infinite causal chain—and argues such a chain is absurd, so there must be an eternal primary cause, developed later in Book Lambda. Book Beta lists the main problems or puzzles (aporiai) of philosophy. Book Gamma defends the principle of contradiction and the principle of excluded middle.

Book Delta is a philosophical lexicon defining about thirty key terms like cause, nature, one, and many. Book Epsilon ranks sciences: productive, practical, and theoretical, with theoretical sciences (like physics) superior because they study beings for their own sake. First Philosophy, studying being qua being, is highest as it concerns ultimate causes. Epsilon also dismisses the study of "accidents"—attributes not due to necessity—as unworthy of science.

Books VII–IX: Zeta, Eta, and Theta

Books Zeta, Eta, and Theta are considered the core of the Metaphysics. Book Zeta begins by noting that "being" has several senses, and philosophy’s goal is to understand the primary kind of being: substance (ousia). It considers four candidates for substance: essence (what it is to be), the universal, the genus, and the material substrate. Aristotle rejects matter as substance, arguing that if you remove all properties (including matter and shape), nothing remains that can be substance.