Philosophic

The definitions which follow relate specifically to the philosophic definition of the term “metaphysics”, not the popular “New Age” connotation.

• Nominal:
  The study of what is.
• Essential:
  The subset of philosophy that deals with what is.
• Properties:
  What is?
• Accidentals:
  What is not?
• Efficient Cause:
  It provides the context for discovering reality.
• Final Cause:
  Is what is real, real?
• Material Cause:
  This is abstract and not really material, although materialism asserts implicit metaphysical assumptions.
• Effects:
  Some of the largest rifts in polity are relative to metaphysics, whether implicit or explicit.