Incorporeal
Incorporeal, from Latin, means without the nature of a body or substance. The idea of the incorporeal refers to the notion that there is an incorporeal realm or place, that is distinct from the corporeal or material world. Incorporeal beings are not made out of matter in the way a physical, material being exists. The idea of the immaterial is often used in reference to God or the Divine. God has at times been carefully defined as the Prime Mover or First Cause that exists in an incorporeal or intelligible realm that transcends both space and time, especially in the physical realm.Many philosophers have referred to the incorporeal idea and methods. Most notable are Plato's claims about the realm of immaterial, perfect Forms, and Plotinus is a NeoPlatonist with similar ideas to the unchanging and perfect realm, in contrast to a physical world of change and flux. This also relates to the philosophical ideas and relations of being and becoming. Concepts in mathematics have also been considered by some to have an incorporeal nature. Plato's divided line involves ideas about the dialectic and the intelligible method. Thought thinking itself can also be considered to be an incorporeal method. Berkeley's notion of immaterialism is also similar.
Immaterialism is the theory propounded by Bishop Berkeley in the 18th century which holds that there are no material objects, only minds and ideas in those minds. Berkeley summarized his theory with the motto "esse est percipi" ("To be is to be perceived"), but went on to elaborate it with God as the source of consensus reality and other particulars.
Today this theory is considered the first formulation of subjective idealism, a branch of idealism and a form of phenomenalism. Since it is not falsifiable, it is a theory not of science but of metaphysics and other philosophical methods. The idea that objects exist independently of mind is not testable or provable by the scientific method.
Earlier ideas about the immaterial and the incorporeal go back to Plato, Augustine, Plotinus, and many other ancient and medieval philosophers. Plato and Socrates made many references to eternal forms that are immaterial or incorporeal. A classic philosophical problem is whether or not there is a First Cause or Prime Mover prior to the material universe. Aristotle's notion of a formal cause is also partially related to Plato's idea of eternal Forms. Plato's theory of the divided line also mentions the intelligible method and the dialectical method that may lead one to The Good, or to what truly exists eternally, without change. The Good, unlike changing physical bodies, is claimed to exist in some incorporeal or immaterial state. Many philosophers have contrasted the notions of being and becoming in a similar kind of way.
Christian theology also refers to the incorporeal and immaterial in reference to God, the Holy Spirit, angels, and demons. This is in contrast to the corporeal human body of the physical realm that decays over time. The incorporeal is unchanging, whereas the corporeal is ever changing. Jesus was resurrected in a mysterious way that suggests some kind of incorporeal soul that can exist independently of the physical body. The ghostly appearance of various saints, prophets, and other supernatural beings imply some kind of immaterial realm. Some supernatural miracles can also imply the existence of the immaterial realm.
Bishop Berkeley's assessment of immaterialism was criticized by Samuel Johnson, as recorded by James Boswell. Responding to the theory, Dr. Johnson exclaimed "I refute it thus!" while kicking his shoe into a rock until his foot bled. This episode is cited by Stephen Dedalus in James Joyce's "Ulysses," chapter three. Reflecting on the "ineluctable modality of the visible," Dedalus conjures the image of Johnson's refutation, before engaging in his own refutation - closing his eyes and feeling the rocks under his feet while walking along the beach.
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the ultimate nature of reality, being, and the world. Its name derives from the Greek words μετά (metá) (meaning "after") and φυσικά (physiká) (meaning "after talking about physics"), "physics" referring to those works on matter by Aristotle in antiquity. Metaphysics addresses questions that have existed for as long as the human race - many still with no definitive answer. Examples are:- What is the meaning of life?
- What is the nature of reality?
- What is mankind's place in the universe?
- Does the world exist outside the mind?
- What is the nature of objects, events, places?
A central branch of metaphysics is ontology, the investigation into what types of things there are in the world and what relations these things bear to one another. The metaphysician also attempts to clarify the notions by which people understand the world, including existence, objecthood, property, space, time, causality, and possibility.
More recently, the term "metaphysics" has also been used more loosely to refer to "subjects that are beyond the physical world". A "metaphysical bookstore", for instance, is not one that sells books on ontology, but rather one that sells books on spirits, faith healing, crystal power, occultism, and other such topics.
Before the development of modern science, scientific questions were addressed as a part of metaphysics known as "natural philosophy"; the term "science" itself meant "knowledge". The Scientific Revolution, however, made natural philosophy an empirical and experimental activity unlike the rest of philosophy, and by the end of the eighteenth century it had begun to be called "science" in order to distinguish it from philosophy. Metaphysics therefore became the philosophical enquiry into subjects beyond the physical world. Natural philosophy and science may still be considered topics of metaphysics, if the definition of "metaphysics" includes empirical explanations.
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