METAPHYSICS: Metaphysics, branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of ultimate reality.

Metaphysics is customarily divided into ontology, which deals with the question of how many fundamentally distinct sorts of entities compose the universe, and metaphysics proper, which is concerned with describing the most general traits of reality. These general traits together define reality and would presumably characterize any universe whatever. Because these traits are not peculiar to this universe, but are common to all possible universes, metaphysics may be conducted at the highest level of abstraction. Ontology, by contrast, because it investigates the ultimate divisions within this universe, is more closely related to the physical world of human experience. The term metaphysics is believed to have originated in Rome about 70 BC, with the Greek Peripatetic philosopher Andronicus of Rhodes (flourished 1st century BC) in his edition of the works of Aristotle. In the arrangement of Aristotle's works by Andronicus, the treatise originally called First Philosophy, or Theology, followed the treatise Physics. Hence, the First Philosophy came to be known as meta (ta) physica, or following (the) Physics, later shortened to Metaphysics. The word took on the connotation, in popular usage, of matters transcending material reality. In the philosophic sense, however, particularly as opposed to the use of the word by occultists, metaphysics applies to all reality and is distinguished from other forms of inquiry by its generality. The subjects treated in Aristotle's Metaphysics (substance, causality, the nature of being, and the existence of God) fixed the content of metaphysical speculation for centuries. Among the medieval Scholastic philosophers, metaphysics was known as the transphysical science on the assumption that, by means of it, the scholar philosophically could make the transition from the physical world to a world beyond sense perception. The 13th-century Scholastic philosopher and theologian St. Thomas Aquinas declared that the cognition of God, through a causal study of finite sensible beings, was the aim of metaphysics. With the rise of scientific study in the 16th century the reconciliation of science and faith in God became an increasingly important problem. PARADOX: In logic and mathematics, an apparently contradictory conclusion that is derived from what seem to be valid premises. Paradoxes have been known since the time of the Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea in the 5th century BC. Many paradoxes, on inspection, prove to be based on false premises or arguments, or on incomplete presuppositions underlying the logical or mathematical systems involved. Other paradoxes, however, have been more difficult to resolve, and their study has contributed to the development of modern mathematics.Semantic paradoxes depend on the structure of language, and paradox is often used as a rhetorical device in epigrams and poetry. The poet Alexander Pope referred to the paradox of the human condition in his Essay on Man. Created half to rise, and half to fall; Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all; Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd; The glory, jest, and riddle of the world

EXAMPLES: ANXIETY: Care

Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows Of dauntless courage.

APPEARANCE: Compare great things with small.

CAUTION: the better you think you are doing, the greater should be your cause for concern. AFFECTION: Your Push Pull Me.. DESPAIR: My prime of youth is but a frost of cares; My feast of joy is but a dish of pain; My crop of corn is but a field of tares; And all my good is but vain hope of gain. The day is past, and yet I saw no sun; and now I live, and now my life is done. GOOD: The good are better made by ill, as odors crushed are sweeter stil HATE: Oh, I have loved him too much to feel no hate for him. HUMAN NATURE: Created half to rise, and half to fall; Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all; Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled; the glory, jest, and riddle of the world! HYPOCRICY: When the great way falls into disuse There are benevolence and rectitude; When cleverness emerges There is great hypocrisy; When the six relations are at variance There are filial children; When the state is benighted There are loyal ministers.