What is the Meaning of Metaphysics and What is Its Significance?
What is Metaphysics? - Ruminations on Principial Knowledge and Some of Its Applications - Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Seyyed Hossein Nasr [+]
The George Washington University
Currently University Professor of Islamic Studies at The George Washington University, Seyyed Hossein Nasr is one of our time’s most significant philosophers and scholars of religion. His illustrious career has been marked by the global influence of his writings across diverse fields, from Islamic philosophy, spirituality, science, and art to environmental studies and comparative religion. Among Professor Nasr’s many accolades is his inclusion in the prestigious Library of Living Philosophers under the title, The Philosophy of Seyyed Hossein Nasr (2001).
Description
This chapter focuses on some of the key ideas and concepts that are necessary for understanding metaphysics as taught traditionally, especially in Islamic civilization. It exposits metaphysics as principial knowledge and as knowledge of Divine realities, and also explains religion and civilization’s dependence upon it. While making a fundamental distinction between sacred science and information or merely factual knowledge, this chapter also advances an argument in favor of integrating metaphysics both intellectually and existentially.