METAPHYSICS

noun plural but singular in construction Etymology: Medieval Latin Metaphysica, title of Aristotle's treatise on the subject, from Greek (ta) meta (ta) physika, literally, the (works) after the physical (works); from its position in his collected works Date: 1569 1. a. a division of philosophy that is concerned with the fundamental nature of reality and being and that includes ontology, cosmology, and often epistemology, ontology 2, abstract philosophical studies ; a study of what is outside objective experience, metaphysic 2