Metaphysics
Metaphysics deals with the nature of reality, i. e., existence. As the student will recall (p. 1.2:6), the prefix "meta" does not, as many have assumed, carry any presumption of a supernatural dimension "beyond" the physical world. The most basic metaphysical truth, contained in our axiomatic understanding that reality exists, is that reality (as well as the individual entities it comprises) is objective. In other words, reality is what it is, independently of our beliefs about it.

"Reality 1" "Reality 2" "Reality 3" "Reality 4"

Furthermore, there exists just one reality. Often, of course, we hear the mantra (typically intoned with solemn profundity) that "there are many realities." Implicitly, however, the proponents of this idea are declaring that "in reality there are many realities." In effect, they thus admit that there is a single all-encompassing reality. The unity of reality cannot be denied without implicitly accepting it and may therefore be regarded as axiomatic, in the sense discussed early in this section (pp. 1.2:2-3).

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