Metaphysics

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• Now these two questions — Does there exist a material reality distinct from sensible appearances? and What is the nature of reality? — do not have their source in experimental method, which is acquainted only with sensible appearances and can discover nothing beyond them. The resolution of these questions transcends the methods used by physics; it is the object of metaphysics. Therefore, if the aim of physical theories is to explain experimental laws, theoretical physics is not an autonomous science; it is subordinate to metaphysics.
  • Pierre Duhem, The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory, tr. Philip P. Wiener, 1991, Princeton University Press, p. 10, ISBN 069102524X.

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• "Metaphysics it is the science that studies a black cat, inside a dark room... that is not there" ~ Anonymous
• "The basic drive behind real philosophy is curiosity about the world, not interest in the writings of philosophers. Each of us emerges from the preconsciousness of babyhood and simply finds himself here, in it, in the world. That experience alone astonishes some people. What is all this---what is the world? And what are we? From the beginning of humanity some have been under a compulsion to ask these questions, and have felt a craving for the answers. This is what is really meant by any such phrase as 'mankind's need for metaphysics.'" ~ Bryan Magee
• "Metaphysics is bullshit is a metaphysical statement" ~Steve Martano
• "To think:this is the aim of the life" ~ Anonymous
• "I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me." ~ Woody Allen
• "Metaphysics may be taken lightly as an amusement or seriously as an artfom, but to hold it a philosophy? That is quite ridiculous." ~ Anonymous