Metaphysics vs. Alchemy

Metaphysicsnoun

The branch of philosophy which studies fundamental principles intended to describe or explain all that is, and which are not themselves explained by anything more fundamental; the study of first principles; the study of being insofar as it is being (ens in quantum ens).

‘Philosophers sometimes say that metaphysics is the study of the ultimate nature of the universe.’;

Alchemynoun

(uncountable) The ancient search for a universal panacea, and of the philosopher's stone, that eventually developed into chemistry.

Metaphysicsnoun

The view or theory of a particular philosopher or school of thinkers concerning the first principles which describe or explain all that is.

‘The metaphysics of Thomas Aquinas holds that all real beings have both essence and existence.’; ‘In Aristotelian metaphysics physical objects have both form and matter.’; ‘In his Pensées, Pascal mentioned some first principles recognized within his metaphysics: space, time, motion, and number.’;

Alchemynoun

(countable) The causing of any sort of mysterious sudden transmutation.

Metaphysicsnoun

The metalogic of physics; The logical framework of physics.

‘Even other universes should be a result of different physics. Without rules, these universes wouldn't exist, because they will have an undefined, thus impossible, nature. We will never understand or guess all possible forms of physics. That's why we have to understand the generic metaphysics.’;

Alchemynoun

Any elaborate transformation process or algorithm.

Metaphysicsnoun

Any fundamental principles or rules.

Alchemynoun

An imaginary art which aimed to transmute the baser metals into gold, to find the panacea, or universal remedy for diseases, etc. It led the way to modern chemistry.

Metaphysicsnoun

(uncountable) The study of a supersensual realm or of phenomena which transcend the physical world.

‘I have a collection of books on metaphysics, covering astral projection, reincarnation, and communication with spirits.’;

Alchemynoun

A mixed metal composed mainly of brass, formerly used for various utensils; hence, a trumpet.

‘Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy.’;

Metaphysicsnoun

(uncountable) Displeasingly abstruse, complex material on any subject.

‘This political polemic strikes me as a protracted piece of overwrought, fog-shrouded metaphysics!’;

Alchemynoun

Miraculous power of transmuting something common into something precious.

‘Kissing with golden face the meadows green,Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy.’;

Metaphysicsnoun

The science of real as distinguished from phenomenal being; ontology; also, the science of being, with reference to its abstract and universal conditions, as distinguished from the science of determined or concrete being; the science of the conceptions and relations which are necessarily implied as true of every kind of being; philosophy in general; first principles, or the science of first principles.

‘Commonly, in the schools, called metaphysics, as being part of the philosophy of Aristotle, which hath that for title; but it is in another sense: for there it signifieth as much as "books written or placed after his natural philosophy." But the schools take them for "books of supernatural philosophy;" for the word metaphysic will bear both these senses.’; ‘Now the science conversant about all such inferences of unknown being from its known manifestations, is called ontology, or metaphysics proper.’; ‘Metaphysics are [is] the science which determines what can and what can not be known of being, and the laws of being, a priori.’;

Alchemynoun

a pseudoscientific forerunner of chemistry in medieval times

Metaphysicsnoun

The scientific knowledge of mental phenomena; mental philosophy; psychology.

‘Metaphysics, in whatever latitude the term be taken, is a science or complement of sciences exclusively occupied with mind.’; ‘Whether, after all,A larger metaphysics might not helpOur physics.’;

Alchemynoun

the way two individuals relate to each other;

‘their chemistry was wrong from the beginning -- they hated each other’; ‘a mysterious alchemy brought them together’;

Metaphysicsnoun

the philosophical study of being and knowing

Alchemynoun

the medieval forerunner of chemistry, concerned with the transmutation of matter, in particular with attempts to convert base metals into gold or find a universal elixir

‘occult sciences, such as alchemy and astrology’;

Metaphysics

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of consciousness and the relationship between mind and matter.

Alchemynoun

a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination

‘finding the person who's right for you requires a very subtle alchemy’;

Alchemy

Alchemy (from Arabic: al-kīmiyā; from Ancient Greek: khumeía) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first attested in a number of pseudepigraphical texts written in Greco-Roman Egypt during the first few centuries CE.Alchemists attempted to purify, mature, and perfect certain materials.