Object and definition of Philosophy. Philosophy as metaphysics. /part 3/

The identity of philosophy and metaphysics is pointed out by V. Vindelband. According to him, every philosophy is metaphysics or at least a critique of metaphysics. Philosophy is required to give a worldview. In fact, everyone carries a worldview: no man can without that, everyone carries and possesses in some form knowledge and a view of the integrity of the world, and of the place man has or ought to have in the world. In this sense there is a metaphysics of the nursery and the children's fairy tale, a metaphysics of practical life, a worldview of religious dogma. . "All of these worldviews, however, contain in themselves untested, uncritical and sometimes naively accepted prerequisites. And here, namely, philosophy, metaphysics has the task of analyzing them and establishing the common and the lasting, and the chance to reject. This is the total honesty of the intellect to yourself. We can never think of things without the preconditions we pre-approve of, but we should not, at the end, leave them unchecked, and we should be prepared to abandon them if they do not endure the check. This test of preconditions is precisely philosophy.

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Nikolay Lossky makes extensive protection of metaphysics as a fundamental part of philosophy, which he considers to be "science of the world as a whole". Metaphysics is, among other things, the study of the question of the existence of a reasonable head of the world, as well as his related questions about the nature of the spirit, about immortality, etc., the question of the superstition" . But among this range, perhaps the most interesting is William James. He gives the following wording: "Philosophy is metaphysics. . . Metaphysics - this is a discussion of a variety of dark, abstract, universal questions that are usually raised, but are not solved by science and life, questions as if left aside, broad and deep questions relating to the totality of all things or to its basic principles, such as: What is "thought" and what is "real" and how are they connected? What do we mean by "truth"? Is there a single primitive substance at the root of everything real? Why is there a world, and can not we suppose it could not exist at all? Which reality is the most real? What unites everything into a unified universe? Is unity or multiplicity a more fundamental property of being? Are all things one common source or have several? Is the world in its entirety limited or endless? Is the whole space filled with matter or there are gaps? What is God? Or gods?

How are the spirit and body connected to each other? How does one thing work on another? How can one thing become another or how can one grow another? Can space and time be considered realities or, if not, what are they then? How does knowledge and object penetrate and achieve? Knowledge is done using common concepts. Are these concepts real or only single things are real? What do we mean by "stuff"? Are we born into the beginning of reason, or are they gradually emerging on the path of experience? Good and beauty are not the result of a personal view or an objective existence? In the latter case, what does "objective existence" mean? Here are examples of metaphysical questions. According to Kant, three are the main metaphysical questions: What can I know? What am I supposed to do? What can I hope for? It is enough to take a general look at all such questions in order to reject the definition of metaphysics as "a science of what is possible," as opposed to what is real, since the majority of the above problems relate to the world of real facts. We can call metaphysics a study of the causes, essence, meaning and ultimate fate of the whole being. Or we can call it a science of the most general principles of reality (experimental or superhuman) in their mutual relation with one another and our cognitive abilities. W. James's opinion is textually and comprehensively exposed because, because of its specificity, it is particularly valuable both to portray individual issues and to conclude with a definitive definition. Similarly, Alfred Fule, who writes: "Clearly empirical or logical research, whatever their meaning, is just an introduction to philosophy. The essence of philosophy is in defining the first principles, what does not depend on anything, and from which everything else depends - that is, the Absolute.

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