Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much a From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that we are here for the sake of each other - above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Newton thought that there are atoms of matter and light, but with the methods of Newtonian mechanics and optics they were beyond the reach of experiments.From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that we are here for the sake of each other - above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. At the very beginnings of modern physics, it was taken up by Galileo, Descartes, and Newton. The idea that matter is made up of microscopic constituent parts stems from ancient atomism. 1 Immanuel Kant The tradition of the particle concept goes back to traditional metaphysics and ancient philosophy. Thus, the second advantage of metaphysics is at once the least known and the most important, although it is also an advantage which is only attained at a fairly late stage and after long experience. To that extent metaphysics is a science of the limits of human reason. The authors work can serve either as a textbook in a university course on metaphysics or as an introduction to metaphysical thinking for the interested reader. It consists in knowing what relation the question has to empirical concepts, upon which all our judgements must at all times be based. Metaphysics introduces to readers the curious notion that is metaphysics, how it is conceived both historically and currently.

The second advantage of metaphysics is more consonant with the nature of the human understanding. And, on this occasion, too, satisfaction has escaped our eager grasp. But hope is here all too often disappointed by the outcome.

The ?rst is this: it can solve the problems thrown up by the enquiry of mind, when it uses reason to spy after the more hidden properties of things. Metaphysics, with which, as fate would have it, I have fallen in love but from which I can boast of only a few favours, o?ers two kinds of advantage.

Metaphysics book