Dictionary

metaphysician en · NOUN

Etymology

From Middle English methafisicien, from methafisik on the model of fisicien or perhaps from rare and late Old French methafisicien.

Meanings

1. A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics.
   • Now it so happened that Francis was Mrs. Clarke's favourite: whether from having seen the least of him, or from the great difference between them—two common causes of liking—or because she felt some sort of vanity in her near relationship to so very fine a gentleman, are points too curious to be decided by any but a metaphysician. 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 65:
   • Professor Jones is an eminent metaphysician; she has produced more than one hundred refereed publications concerning metaphysics.
   • In 1928 Heidegger succeeded Husserl to take a chair at Freiburg and in his inaugural lecture made a pronouncement that earned him a reputation as an archetypal metaphysician with his claim that our awareness of people as a whole depends on our experience of dread in the face of nothingness. 2014 April 12, Michael Inwood, “Martin Heidegger: the philosopher who fell for Hitler [print version: Hitler's philosopher]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review), London, page R11:
   • PROPOSITION IV. 1854, George Boole, An Investigation Of The Laws Of Thought, On Which Are Founded The Mathematical Theories Of Logic And Probabilities, Watchmaker Publishing, published 2010, →ISBN, §III.15, page 34:
   • Thomas Aquinas was a notable metaphysician.

Forms

Deriveds

metaphysicianism

Synonyms

metaphysicist

Translations (25)

et metafüüsik (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · ca metafísic (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · sv metafysiker (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · it metafisico (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · fi metafyysikko (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · eo metafisikisko (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · da metafysiker (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · is frumspekingur (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · gl metafísica (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · hu metafizikus (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · gl metafísico (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · be метафі́зік (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · de Metaphysikerin (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · it metafisica (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · uk метафі́зик (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · lv metafiziķe (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · de Metaphysiker (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · pt metafísico (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · pt metafísica (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · nl metafysicus (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · lv metafiziķis (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · ru метафи́зик (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · ca metafísica (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · es metafísico (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics) · pl metafizyk (A philosopher who specializes in the scholarly study of metaphysics)