Metaphysical

as 'originating behind'

Morphological analysis

• Etymon: Metaphysical from Latin by way of Ancient Greek metaphysica: 'of or pertaining to metaphysics'
• Morpheme breakdown: From surface analysis of Ancient Greek prefix μετα- (meta-) meaning 'behind' + φύσις (phúsis), meaning 'origin' -> metaphysical: 'originating behind' → 'originating behind'

Essential definition

That which originates behind existence; pertaining to the foundational, generative principles or conditions that are logically and ontologically prior to manifest reality.

Semantic context

• Conventional sense: Of or pertaining to metaphysics. (Note: Semantic drift from essential meaning)
• Essential meaning (my usage): originating behind

Philosophical significance

This definition restores metaphysics to its classical role as the foundational science of first principles, positioning it not as a study separate from the physical world, but as the necessary inquiry into the prior, generative conditions that originate behind and make possible existence itself.

Usage in this lexicon

When I use the word metaphysical in my work, I mean exactly 'originating behind'. This definition:

• ensures historical fidelity and conceptual anchoring by defining 'metaphysical' via its Greek morphological components meta as 'after' or 'beyond' and physika as 'the natural things' as 'originating behind existence' which grounds the term in its historical emergence and honors the Aristotelian tradition where the inquiry into first principles and being qua being was literally placed 'after the physics' in the corpus yet conceptually understood as the foundational inquiry behind or prior to the physical and directly links to the pre-modern understanding of metaphysics as the study of the primary conditions and causes that stand behind and give rise to manifest reality;
• establishes the epistemological priority of principles by emphasizing the 'behind' or foundational aspect which foregrounds the epistemological and ontological priority of principles or archai and aligns with the Plutarch quotation and clarifies that metaphysical entities such as abstracta and first causes and forms and others are not merely subsequent abstractions from experience but are logically and ontologically prior conditions that make existence and our understanding of it possible and frames metaphysics as the study of what must be already in place for anything to be;
• provides a clarification of abstraction's status by helping distinguish metaphysical abstracta like Platonic Forms or Aristotelian essences from mere psychological or linguistic abstractions and states that if they 'originate behind' existence they are not simply mental constructs derived from particulars but rather the very grounds from which particulars derive their being and intelligibility which protects the objective and realist claims of many metaphysical systems against nominalist or subjectivist reductions;
• emphasizes generative causality through the phrasing 'originating behind' which inherently suggests a generative or causal role and frames metaphysics as the study of the ultimate productive sources of reality and not just a static catalog of the most general categories of being and aligns with ancient and medieval conceptions of metaphysics as concerned with final and efficient causes and not merely formal ones and connects directly to inquiries into why there is something rather than nothing;
• offers a resolution of the 'meta' ambiguity by noting that the prefix meta- in contemporary usage often drifts into meaning 'separate from' or 'transcending' in a dualistic sense and defining it as 'behind' retains the sense of transcendence as being prior and foundational but crucially maintains a connective and explanatory link to the physical existence it grounds and avoids the implication of complete detachment and instead suggests a foundational relationship much like a blueprint stands 'behind' a constructed building;
• enables integration with systematic hierarchy as this definition naturally supports an hierarchical and ordered view of reality and knowledge and as Firmus's statement in Plutarch indicates principles are before or proteron what they govern which establishes a clear logical structure where metaphysics studies the first principles and physics and other sciences study the derivative manifestations and provides a philosophical justification for the architecture of the sciences and the unique and architectonic role of metaphysics;
• provides a defence against empirical dissolution by insisting that the metaphysical is what originates behind the physical and not merely abstracted from it which provides a philosophical bulwark against positivist or strict empiricist claims that metaphysical statements are meaningless and asserts that the objects of metaphysics while not empirically encounterable in the same way as physical objects are nevertheless required for a complete account of reality and are accessed through reason's inquiry into the conditions of existence itself.

Related terms

• Abstracta

Sources

• Wiktionary

*This definition follows morphological essentialism principles. See the Methodology for details.