Metaphysics

The major questions philosophers address under the heading "metaphysics" are what is real, what is right, what is known, and what is good. These questions can overlap and converge, and the dominant metaphysical questions have to do with what is real. Under the heading of what is real come questions of ontology, or being and existence. Also relevant in this regard are questions that deal with the world, or the cosmos, in which reality is perceived or experienced. Epistemology is the name given to questions of what is known and how it is known--versus what is believed but may not really be knowledge but only an opinion. Questions of what is right, which have to do with values, deal with ethics and morality, and they can intersect with questions about what is known. Questions of what is good can surface under questions of reality and what is aesthetically beautiful, whether in nature or in the things made by human beings. Ethics and morality, or values, can also be judged in terms of whether they are good.

2. What is the difference between "upper story" and "lower story" philosophies? Name an example of each type.

The main difference between upper-story and lower-story philosophies is that the former tend to deal with knowledge, reason, and logic, while the latter tend toward the irrational. The experience of knowledge is rational and mental, as seen in the discourses of rationality undert

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thing.) 6. What are the main differences between the idealist metaphysics of the following philosophers: Plato, Berkeley, and Hegel? Plato's idealist metaphysics is built around the concept of Ideal Forms as the ultimate reality. Material reality and experience are pale imitations of the Real Thing. What is most permanently real about existence is what cannot be seen but what can be conceptualized. The Ideal Forms lend character to transient, mutable reality. Berkeley's metaphysical core is a distinction between what exists and what is perceived as existing. The perception of the thing cannot be divided from the existence of the thing as far as human experience is concerned. The primary reality is the human mental experience of perceiving. Perception of material reality is inseparable from and fused with human imagination. That does not mean that material objects do not exist independently because after all they may (and may only) exist in the mind of God. It does mean that only through the senses, or secondary experience of what is real, do human beings have access to reality. It is the nearest human beings can get to primary reality, except in their imaginations, which ipso facto are not material in nature. Hegel's idealist
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2851
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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