Nature (philosophy) - The Study of Nature Without Metaphysics

The Study of Nature Without Metaphysics

Authors from Nietzsche to Richard Rorty have claimed that science, the study of nature, can and should exist without metaphysics. But this claim has always been controversial. Authors like Bacon and Hume never denied that their use of the word "nature" implied a metaphysics, but tried to follow Machiavelli's approach of talking about what works, instead of claiming to understand what seems impossible to understand.

Read more about this topic:  Nature (philosophy)

Famous quotes containing the words study, nature and/or metaphysics:

    If we wish to know the force of human genius, we should read Shakespeare. If we wish to see the insignificance of human learning, we may study his commentators.
    William Hazlitt (1778–1830)

    We know more from nature than we can at will communicate.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    Metaphysics abstracts the mind from the senses, and the poetic faculty must submerge the whole mind in the senses. Metaphysics soars up to universals, and the poetic faculty must plunge deep into particulars.
    Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)