Discipline: Philosophy / Humanities
Course Description: Metaphysics is the philosophical investigation of reality and existence. It asks some of philosophy’s most fundamental questions:
- What is ultimately real?
- What does it mean for something to exist?
- Are mind and body fundamentally different?
- Do human beings possess free will?
- What is time?
- What makes a person the same person over time?
- Are universals real?
- Could reality consist of more than what can be physically observed?
- What is the relationship between metaphysics, science, religion, and spirituality?
This course introduces students to classical and contemporary metaphysical questions while encouraging them to recognize metaphysics as an ongoing philosophical conversation rather than simply a historical study of famous thinkers.
Course Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course, students should be able to:
- Define metaphysics and distinguish it from epistemology and ontology.
- Explain major theories concerning the nature of reality.
- Analyze arguments concerning existence and being.
- Compare materialist, idealist, and dualist approaches to reality.
- Explain major philosophical positions concerning free will and determinism.
- Analyze philosophical theories of personal identity and consciousness.
- Explain major philosophical problems concerning time.
- Evaluate philosophical arguments concerning God, spirituality, and ultimate reality.
- Distinguish philosophical metaphysics from empirical scientific claims.
- Develop and defend a personal metaphysical position.
Assessment Structure
| Component | Weight |
| Participation & Discussion | 20% |
| Five Journal Reflections | 20% |
| Creative Arts Responses | 20% |
| Metaphysical Theory Analysis | 15% |
| Final Metaphysical Position Paper/Project* | 25% |
| Total | 100% |
Final Metaphysical Position Paper: Students select one major metaphysical question and construct a philosophical argument.
Suggested Topics
- Does free will exist?
- Is consciousness physical?
- Is there an immaterial soul?
- What makes a person the same person?
- Does time actually exist?
- Is reality fundamentally material?
- Could artificial intelligence become conscious?
- Is there a God?
- Could mystical experiences reveal genuine reality?
- Is the universe fundamentally deterministic?
- Does the universe require a cause?
- Are mathematical objects real?
- Is reality ultimately one thing or many things?
Requirements: Students must:
- Define the metaphysical problem.
- Explain at least three philosophical positions.
- Present arguments supporting each position.
- Present objections to each position.
- Identify assumptions underlying the competing theories.
- Incorporate at least two scholarly sources.
- Present their own position.
- Defend their position through philosophical argument.
*Optional Final Creative Project
Because not every student can demonstrate their knowledge in the same standardized way we don’t require every student to write a conventional philosophical paper, we happily offer a creative alternative and look forward to the various ways our students can demonstrate knowledge. Pick ONE project idea below to complete as an alternative to the paper described above.
The Metaphysical Tribunal: Students stage a philosophical trial:
The Question:
“What is ultimately real?”
Possible witnesses:
- Plato
- Aristotle
- Descartes
- Hume
- Kant
- Nietzsche
- Einstein
- A neuroscientist
- A Buddhist philosopher
- An Indigenous philosopher
- An African philosopher
- A contemporary physicist
- An artificial intelligence
Students must present philosophical evidence, cross-examine competing positions, and deliver a final philosophical verdict.
Metaphysics Exhibition: Create five works representing:
Reality → Mind → Freedom → Time → Ultimate Reality
Each piece receives a 300–500 word philosophical explanation. These are 5 components that together make one final project submission.
Metaphysical Short Film: Create a 5–10 minute film in which a character discovers that their understanding of reality is incomplete.
The film must incorporate at least four metaphysical concepts. Upload your work to clapper and tag your mentor.
Personal Metaphysical Manifesto: Students develop 10 principles describing their philosophy of reality.
For example:
“I distinguish reality from perception.”
“I recognize uncertainty as a legitimate metaphysical position.”
“I do not assume that what cannot be measured cannot exist.”
“I recognize consciousness as a philosophical problem rather than assuming that its nature has been completely explained.”
Students then provide a philosophical defense of each principle.