Language

Apologies if this has been asked before, but I would like to inquire as to whether or not the application of the word "metaphysics" to New Age studies is in actuality inappropriate and inaccurate. Many New Agers tend to enjoy labeling things such as "energy healing" or "the metaphysical properties of stones" (i.e. helping you sleep, grounding, clarity, etc) as metaphysics when most of them probably have never even read Aristotle's metaphysics, much less ever heard of it. Certainly, Aristotle's book would not be found in the metaphysical section! So, I ask: is interpreting the prefix "meta" in "metaphysics" as "beyond" in a literal sense (as in non-physical) grossly inaccurate? Should New Agers find another word to describe their studies?

Comments

The word "metaphysics" wasn't actually used by Aristotle, but was a label applied later to a set of writing that seemed to come "after" rather than "beyond" in some reasonable ordering of topics. What we philosophers call "metaphysics" these days covers a broad swath of territory and includes a variety of questions about the nature of things (What is causation? Is everything physical? Is there such a thing as free will?…)

Some of the claims made by New Age thinkers would count as metaphysical by any reasonable accounting (for example: the idea that there is a non-physical "astral plane" or that matter is created by mind.) The belief that certain kinds of stones have healing properties, on the other hand, seems straightforwardly empirical and testable; not metaphysical in any obvious sense.

The main complaint philosophers have with New Age "metaphysical" claims is that they aren't subjected to analysis and critical assessment. They seem mostly based on traditions in need of evaluation or uncritical intuition or appeals to authorities that we don't have good reason to accept. At least, this is what I found some years back when I made a sympathetic attempt to understand various strands of New Age thought. Philosophers who do metaphysics take for granted that they need to argue for what they say and take account of objections and alternative views. And that gives rise to an obvious complaint: metaphysics, as a branch of philosophy, tries to go about its business with intellectual rigor and care. If the term comes mainly to be associated with an enterprise that lacks intellectual standards, then philosophers would reasonably see this as unfortunate. But while philosophers might wish that New Age thinkers would pick a different word, that horse has long since left the barn!

I'd add: if there were good reason to believe that certain New Age claims were true, that would be surprising, but it would be interesting and worth talking about. At least in my experience, however, many proponents of New Age ideas don't see the need to give reasons. And therein lies the most important difference with philosophers.

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