The 9 Most Outstanding Metaphysical Philosophers

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Robert Johnston
The 9 Most Outstanding Metaphysical Philosophers

Main metaphysical philosophers they date mostly from the years before Christ. Aristotle is considered by many to be the father of metaphysics due to the well-known publication of the fourteen papyrus scrolls..

This philosopher profoundly defines what was known to him as metaphysics. However, there is evidence that Parmenides preceded him in the antecedents of the same branch of philosophy.

The development of this branch of philosophy has found exponents throughout the world that have enriched the way in which the nature of being is analyzed from the perspective of metaphysics..

Major metaphysical philosophers

1- Aristotle (384 - 322 BC)

Photograph of the bust of Aristotle (Source: Kaio hfd / CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) via Wikimedia Commons)

This Macedonian philosopher made a work composed of fourteen scrolls of papyrus, each equivalent to one volume. The first eight were defined in the area of ​​physics; in these he raised various theories.

The remaining volumes gave rise to the term "metaphysics", which refers to what follows the explanations about nature.

2- Plato (428 - 347 BC)

Plato sculpture

This Greek philosopher inspired and provided great tools to understand this philosophy in other thinkers.

Although he is not specified in any of his works as a metaphysician, his works based on his original thought generated valuable contributions.

3- Parmenides (born between 530 and 515 BC)

Elea Parmenides

This Greek philosopher has only one known work. His work is said to be a revelation and one of its parts, called The way of truth, impulse Plato in his doctrine of forms and Aristotle in his metaphysical theories.

For this reason it is said that Parmenides can be considered as the father of metaphysics.

4- Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804)

Profile portrait of Immanuel Kant

He was a German philosopher who learned about the philosophy of Leibniz and Wolff in his university studies in theology through his mentor Knutzen.

This knowledge motivated him to venture into natural science, making great contributions to logical metaphysics.

5- Heraclitus (536 - 470 BC)

Heraclitus

Greek philosopher, one of the first metaphysicians. He considered that the world was created by a natural principle.

Fire for him represented the best example of the natural, since fire is continually subjected to changes, just like the world. That change is the basic origin of all things.

6- René Descartes (1596 - 1650)

Descartes became one of the most influential of the seventeenth century. He was a Catholic Christian.

He is considered the founder of modern philosophy. His theories affirmed the existence of the soul and of God. In this century theology and metaphysics were very close.

7- Gottfried Leibniz (1646 - 1716)

Gottfried Leibniz was the one who made the first approach to perspectivism. Source: Christoph Bernhard Francke [Public domain]

This German was an influential philosopher, mathematician, theologian, logician and jurist, among other disciplines he practiced.

For him, any man, through reason, managed to transcend the material world and death. He was in charge of introducing the concept of spiritual atoms calling them "monads".

8- John Locke (1632 - 1704)

English philosopher and physician, he is considered one of the fathers of empiricism. His relationship with medicine gave him a perspective to explain human understanding.

He was a student of the spirit, which came to determine that knowledge is the discernment of four types of convenience and non-convenience, one of which is real existence (metaphysics).

9- Baruch Spinoza (1632 - 1677)

Born in Amsterdam, Spinoza was part of the rationalist movement of René Descartes. His greatest contribution was his reading of the infinity of substance. In it, the philosopher considers that the modes are inherent to the creed of God.

References

  1. Bacca, J. D. (1990). Nine great contemporary philosophers and their themes: Bergson, Husserl, Unamuno, Heidegger, Scheler, Hartmann, W. James, Ortega y Gasset, Whitehead. Barcelona: Anthropos Editorial.
  2. Conti, C. C. (1995). Metaphysical Personalism: An Analysis of Austin Farrer's Metaphysics of Theism. Clarendon Press.
  3. Forment, E. (2013). Metaphysics. Word.
  4. Hibbs, T. (2007). Aquinas, Ethics, and Philosophy of Religion: Metaphysics and Practice. Indiana: Indiana University Press.
  5. José Arredondo Campos, G. E. (2015). Philosophy: Perspectives and Problems. Mexico: Grupo Editorial Patria.

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