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Metaphysics vs Existentialism - What's the difference?

metaphysics | existentialism |

In philosophy countable terms the difference between metaphysics and existentialism

is that metaphysics is the view or theory of a particular philosopher or school of thinkers concerning the first principles which describe or explain all that is while existentialism is the philosophical views of a particular thinker associated with the existentialist movement.

As nouns the difference between metaphysics and existentialism

is that metaphysics is 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) while existentialism is a twentieth-century philosophical movement emphasizing the uniqueness of each human existence in freely making its self-defining choices.

metaphysics

English

(wikipedia metaphysics)

Noun

  • (philosophy, uncountable) 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 ).
    • Philosophers sometimes say that metaphysics is the study of the ultimate nature of the universe.
  • (philosophy, countable) The view or theory of a particular philosopher or school of thinkers concerning the first principles which describe or explain all that is.
    • The metaphysics of Thomas Aquinas holds that all real beings have both essence and existence.
    In Aristotelian metaphysics physical objects have both form and matter.
    In his ''Pensées'', Pascal mentioned some first principles recognized within his metaphysics : space, time, motion, and number.
  • (uncountable, by extension from the philosophical sense) Any fundamental principles or rules.
  • * 1990 Jan. 1, Lance Morrow, " Gorbachev: The Unlikely Patron of Change," Time :
    • The metaphysics of global power has changed. Markets are now more valuable than territory.
  • (uncountable) The study of a supersensual realm or of phenomena which transcend the physical world.
    • I have a collection of books on metaphysics , covering astral projection, reincarnation, and communication with spirits.
  • (uncountable) Displeasingly abstruse, complex material on any subject.
    • This political polemic strikes me as a protracted piece of overwrought, fog shrouded metaphysics !
  • (countable) Plural of countable senses of metaphysic.

    • Meronyms

    * ontology

    Derived terms

    * metaphysical * metaphysician * metaphysicist

    Related terms

    * physics

    existentialism

    English

    (wikipedia existentialism)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (philosophy, not countable) A twentieth-century philosophical movement emphasizing the uniqueness of each human existence in freely making its self-defining choices.
    • The heyday of existentialism occurred in the mid-twentieth century.
  • (philosophy, countable) The philosophical views of a particular thinker associated with the existentialist movement.
    • Sartre's existentialism''' is atheistic, but the '''existentialism of Marcel is distinctly Christian.
  • * 1965 , Mikel Dufrenne, "Existentialism and Existentialisms," Philosophy and Phenomenological Research , vol 26 no 1 (Sep), p. 51.
    • Instead of Existentialism', we should speak of ' Existentialisms .

    Antonyms

    * noumenalism

    Related terms

    * exist * existence * existential * existentialist