This term is derived from the Greek metataphysica by...

This term is derived from the Greek metataphysica by dropping the extra ta and transforming the physica to “physics”, to take the form “metaphysics”. It has been translated into Arabic as mā ba‘d al-ṭabī‘ah (that which is after physics). According to that which has been narrated by the historians of philosophy, this word was first used as a name for one of the books of Aristotle, which occurred following his Physics , and which included general discussions of existence.

In the Islamic Age this came to be called umūr ‘ammah (general affairs), and some of the Islamic philosophers have considered it suitable to use the expression mā qabl al-ṭabī‘ah (that which is prior to physics). Apparently, this discussion is different from that of theology or uthūlūjiyyah . But in the books of the Islamic philosophers, these discussions are combined, and together they are given the name “divinity in the general sense”.

Likewise, theology is specified by the name “divinity in the specific sense”. Some have taken the term metaphysics to be equivalent to “trans-physical”, meaning that which is beyond physics, and they consider the use of this name for this part of ancient philosophy to be an instance of using a general name for something more specific, for in divinity, in the general sense, God and abstract things (beyond physics) are also discussed. However, it seems that the first meaning is the correct one.

In any case, metaphysics is used for a collection of theoretical intellectual problems, which are a part of philosophy (in the general sense). Nowadays, the term philosophy is sometimes restricted to these problems, and one of the new meanings of “philosophy” is metaphysics. The reason that the positivists considered these kinds of problems to be unscientific is that they are susceptible to verification by sensory experience.

Likewise, Kant considered theoretical reason to be insufficient for the verification of these problems and he called them “dialectical” or debatable from two standpoints. Science, Philosophy, Metaphysics and The Relations among Them Keeping in mind the different meanings mentioned for science and philosophy, it becomes clear that the relation among science, philosophy and metaphysics differs in accordance with these different meanings.