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“What is metaphysics” is a sentence uttered by both intro-to-philosophy students and honed philosophers. It is a field that is fundamental to the study of philosophy itself, tracking back to a cornerstone of the philosophical world, Aristotle. Unlike other studies such as physics or math, which tends to study particular kinds of objects, particularly in the empirical, sensible
world, metaphysics questions the sensible world, experience, and reality as a whole. As the name implies, it is a “meta-” study, standing for “after” or “beyond.” As such, going forward, I will argue that “metaphysics” is the study of reality beyond experience, being concerned with understanding the nature of reality itself. Essentially, it’s trying to get at the objective “truth” of
the universe, how and why it exists and functions, and how reality is structured.

Aristotle provides the earliest account of metaphysics, being the reason it is named as such. He states, “There is a science which investigates being qua being and the essential attributes of being; and although “being” has many senses, there is a main sense to which all the others are somehow related. (Aristotle 1003a21-5al8). What this means is that there is a science which investigates the quality of being within being, the quality of existence within
existence, and so on. While physics, for example, is the study of physical things and how they interact, and biology is the study of living organisms; Metaphysics studies what it means for anything to exist at all. It is not concerned with specific features of objects, but existence as a whole. As Aristotle says, “[metaphysics] is not the same as any of the so-called ‘special
sciences’; for none of those sciences examine universally being qua being…” (1003a23–25). Therefore, Metaphysics operates at a more basic level than any empirical study, as it seeks to understand what all things have in common by existing, or what is “being.” If “the most universal things are on the whole the hardest for men to know, for they are most removed from sensations,” then metaphysics essentially is the highest form of knowledge, or wisdom, as it concerns the most universal and essential truths (982a21-252). Unlike the empirical sciences, which rely on the senses, metaphysics investigates what the senses are, if they accurately sense the world, and what this means about the world, our place in it, and our overall understanding of the universe. Naturally, the fact that these truths are “most removed from sensation” explains why metaphysics concerns “wisdom and wise men…universal knowledge in the highest degree…And the most universal things…” (Ibid.). However, if metaphysics deals with things removed from sensations then it must be removed from the source of our knowledge: experience.

This problem becomes clearer in the discussion of potentiality and actuality. Aristotle argues that “knowledge of what is potential comes to be through the actuality of that potential by thought,” or that metaphysical knowledge does not come from observing reality itself, but from reflecting upon what would happen if the thought was actual truth of reality (1051a21-33). The question raised through this train of thought is: can thought alone guarantee correspondence with reality? If metaphysics depends on reasoning beyond sensation, then its claims may reflect the structures of thought rather than reality itself; metapsychology rather than metaphysics. This makes physics more speculation than science. The problem deepens when considering Aristotle’s claim that metaphysics investigates truth itself. He claims “Truth and falsity… is about a composite or what is divided, and truth in the soul is caused by truth or falsity in things,” implying that truth in our minds depends on truth in external reality (1051a34-2). This seems to risk metaphysics becoming an elaborate system of internally coherent ideas that may or may not correspond to reality itself, like an unsynced watch. However, this does align with Aristotle’s own statement that philosophy is supposed to investigate being qua being. Yet without empirical grounding, metaphysical claims cannot be conclusively proven or disproven, seemingly making them uncertain.

Kant confronts this problem, but states a deeper instability within metaphysics itself. He describes Metaphysics as “a shoreless sea, in which progress leaves no trace behind, and whose horizon contains no visible goal by which one might perceive how nearly it has been approached” (Kant 20:259). Unlike other sciences in which discoveries build upon each other to lead to progress, metaphysics seems to wander endlessly without clear progress. Metaphysics “has almost always existed in idea only,” suggesting that while metaphysics may be conceptually compelling, its existence as a source of actual knowledge remains uncertain (Ibid.) Kant even compares the pursuit of metaphysical understanding to Sisyphus, cursed to roll a boulder up a hill endlessly, making its futility apparent. Kant goes on to define metaphysics as “the science of progressing by reason from knowledge of the sensible to that of the super-sensible” (20:260.). The definition establishes metaphysics attempt to move beyond experience, at an understanding based on reasoning. Again, Kant notes metaphysics seeks “knowledge which is not empirical” and exists solely in the realm of thought (20:261). Therefore, if metaphysics operates beyond experience, then we lack the tools to verify whether the claims are true or false.

This is where metaphysics begins to resemble what philosophers like Harry Frankfurt would call ‘bullshit’. Frankfurt argues that the essence of bullshit is its “lack of connection to a concern with truth,” noting that “we have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves” (Frankfurt 10;1) This parallels metaphysics closely. Metaphysical claims cannot be empirically confirmed, but they also cannot be empirically denied. As a result, metaphysics operates in a space where truth conditions are unclear or inaccessible. Like Bullshit, metaphysical claims may express internally coherent reasoning while remaining disconnected from verifiable reality. Consider Aristotle’s claim that metaphysics studies being qua being, the structure of existence itself, solely through reason. Though they aim at truth, these claims cannot be confirmed or denied through observation or experiment, since they are a priori. As such, metaphysical claims seem to risk falling into utterances of bullshit.

Of course, metaphysics cannot be dismissed as bullshit. Unlike Frankfurt’s claim of the essence of bullshit, metaphysics cares about the truth. Kant himself acknowledges that even though metaphysics appears futile, reason cannot abandon it. He writes “since all men are more or less engaged in it… it would still be in vain to tell them that they should at last give up rolling this stone of Sisyphus, were not the interest that reason takes in the subject the most ardent that can be entertained” (Kant 20:260). Metaphysics arises from human reason itself; it is not just speculation, but a result of rational inquiry. As Kant explains, ontology is a “system of all concepts of the understanding…so far as they refer to objects that can be given to the senses,” and that this system is a “vestibule of metaphysics proper” (Kant 20:261). Metaphysics cannot directly describe the super-sensible, but it can analyze the structure of thought and experience, which make knowledge possible in the first place. Instead of making unsupported claims about reality beyond experience, metaphysics is a critique of reason itself. Kant describes metaphysics as “the system of all principles of purely theoretical rational knowledge through concepts,” (Kant 20:262). While metaphysics does not provide empirical facts, it can clarify the framework in which empirical knowledge can exist at all. Without metaphysics, many empirical sciences would lack a base, since science itself depends on concepts such as causality, existence, and objectivity. While these concepts cannot be directly observed, they are necessary for interpreting experience. As such, metaphysics serves a foundational role, even if its conclusions remain uncertain.

Ultimately, metaphysics occupies a unique position within philosophy. Aristotle defines it as the study of being qua being, seeking universal truth beyond experience, while Kant reveals the limits and necessity of this pursuit. While metaphysical claims cannot be verified, they come from the act of reasoning itself. This makes metaphysics neither pure knowledge nor pure bullshit, but something else: a genuine inquiry into the nature of reality at its most fundamental level. Even if certainty is impossible, to dismiss metaphysics as meaningless is to dismiss reality.

Bibliography
Allison, Henry, et al. “What Real Progress Has Metaphysics Made in Germany Since the
Time of Leibniz and Wolff? (1793/1804).” Cambridge University Press eBooks,
2009, pp. 337–424. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511498015.006.
Aristotle. Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Thomas More College Press, 2021.
Frankfurt, Harry G. “On Bullshit.” Princeton University Press eBooks, 2005,
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400826537.