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ChristianKl comments on Stupid Questions December 2014 - Less Wrong Discussion

16 Post author: Gondolinian 08 December 2014 03:39PM

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Comment author: Anatoly_Vorobey 08 December 2014 06:39:43PM *  13 points [-]

Metaphysics: what's out there? Epistemology: how do I learn about it? Ethics: what should I do with it?

Basically, think of any questions that are of the form "what's there in the world", "what is the world made of", and now take away actual science. What's left is metaphysics. "Is the world real or a figment of my imagination?", "is there such a thing as a soul?", "is there such a thing as the color blue, as opposed to objects that are blue or not blue?", "is there life after death?", "are there higher beings?", "can infinity exist?", etc. etc.

Note that "metaphysical" also tends to be used as a feel-good word, meaning something like "nobly philosophical, concerned with questions of a higher nature than the everyday and the mundane".

Comment author: polymathwannabe 08 December 2014 06:40:38PM 1 point [-]

Metaphysics: what's out there?

Isn't that ontology? What's the difference?

Comment author: ChristianKl 08 December 2014 06:45:31PM 1 point [-]

Ontology is a subdiscipline of metaphysics.

Is the many-world hypothesis true? Might be a metaphysical question that not directly ontology.