Systematic metaphysics
Thinkers who build complete systems about being, spirit and the meaning of reality.
Do you think in the way of Systematic metaphysics? Answer 44 to 132 statements and see your affinity with every school and every thinker.
What it is
Metaphysics asks about what is most fundamental: what being is, why there is something rather than nothing, and what place spirit and God have in the whole. The thinkers in this group believe that philosophy can and should build a system, that is, an ordered and complete view of reality, instead of limiting itself to analyzing isolated problems or to criticizing knowledge.
Authors from different periods share this ambition. Farias Brito, in early 20th century Brazil, defended a spiritualism against the materialism of his time. Mário Ferreira dos Santos created concrete philosophy, which aims to deduce truths from the thesis that something exists. Lima Vaz engaged with Hegel and the Christian tradition. The Spaniard Xavier Zubiri thought about reality from a human intelligence tied to the senses, and the Mexican José Vasconcelos proposed an aesthetic metaphysics. Their methods differ, but they keep the question of the whole alive.
Core ideas
- Philosophy can build an ordered and complete view of reality.
- Being, spirit and the absolute are legitimate subjects for rational thought.
- Answering ultimate questions requires rigor and system, not just criticism.
Where to start reading
Each thinker's starter book, picked for beginners.
The thinkers
Where Systematic metaphysics stands on the 11 themes
Average position of the school's thinkers. Each theme runs from the first pole (−1) to the second (+1).
Neighboring schools
- PlatonismA tradition that sees, beyond the world of the senses, a reality of eternal ideas such as the Good, Beauty and Justice.
- Christian thoughtPhilosophical reflection grounded in Christian faith, on God, the human person, evil, grace and the meaning of life.
- Aristotelianism and ScholasticismAristotle's philosophy and the medieval tradition that joined it to faith, seeking rational order in nature, ethics and God.