I open Minerva’s Gambit with a quote by Immanuel Kant in that: Metaphysics is a dark ocean without shores or lighthouse, strewn with many a philosophic wreck.

Okay, not quite a definition; more of a declarative on the perils of trying to define it. That said, metaphysics is considered to be a transitory concept. It is the study of how the world works – world, meaning the construct of all things that make up reality.

Examples: By what mechanism do we understand the abstract concepts of beauty or love? What drives humans toward perfection? What binds our spiritual being with material reality? Do we have free agency, or are we just playing out some nucleic-acid based preprogrammed biological routine, that only allows for a few insignificant variations?

Metaphysis is the study of aspects that cannot be measured to a set standard or gauge, a one size fits all. We formulate truths by measuring new events against our standing belief framework and if relevant, we augment that belief structure. These structures are constantly forming – always in transition. Are we born with a pre-existing framework, or are humans born tabula rosa – blank-slate? Without a framework for reference, can we see truths? Chicken and the egg?

Consider Augustine’s famous Crede, ut intelligas. – Believe, so that you may understand.

So, belief must come first?

This is the stuff of metaphysics.