1. What are the major questions philosophers address under the heading "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 undertaken by Kant and Descartes. The ideas are vastly different, but they are both trying to get at what knowledge is and how it can be known. Another example would be Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (Mind), which seeks a way to explain what is real and why. Lower-story philosophies, including theologies and discourses that valorize feeling over rationality, would include works dealing with the occult or with the nonrational aspects of experience. New Age discourses...