Metaphysics
The study of being as being and of first principles and causes.
Works to read
- The Science of Right by Immanuel Kant, 1797 · Great Books
- Theaetetus by Plato, c. 369 BC · Great Books
- On the Heavens by Aristotle, c. 350 BC · Great Books
- The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle, c. 340 BCE · Great Books
- Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes, 1641 · Great Books
- Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant, 1781 (revised 1787) · Great Books
- The Epic of Gilgamesh by Anonymous (Babylonian; standard version attributed to Sin-leqi-unninni), c. 2100-1200 BC
- Fragments by Heraclitus, c. 500 BCE
- The Early Christian Creeds by Various, 2nd-5th centuries CE
- Deliverance from Error (The Confessions of al-Ghazali) by Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, c. 1100
- Essays and Aphorisms by Arthur Schopenhauer, 1851
- A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene, 1960
Passages
The security of a people against the misconduct of their rulers, must lie in the frequent recurrence to first principles, and the imposition of adequate constitutional restrictions.
— Supreme Court of the United States, Fletcher v. Peck
Passages are verified quotations from the library that use one of these words: metaphysics, first principles, being. Sentences under “From the texts” are copied word for word from the full texts in this library. Read each in its context on the work's page.