Indian Philosophy v2.c26.s16.2

v2.c26.s16.2

Dissatisfaction with the first view of things is the mother of all metaphysics. While common sense accepts the surface phenomena as real, reflection asks whether the first view is to be regarded as the final one. To discriminate the real from the unreal, the eternal from the transitory, is the chief function of philosophy. At a time when the problem of religion was formulated in terms of the question whether God exists, Śaṁkara said that the chief problem related to the real as opposed to the existent. That which does not exist may be real, while that which does may not be so; for the real it is impossible to exist. This distinction is the justification of *metaphysics* as distinct from physics, and pervades all philosophical thinking, Eastern as well as Western. The "matter" of the Milesians, the "elements" of Empedocles and Anaxagoras, the "numbers" of Pythagoras, the "atoms" of Leucippus and Democritus, the "ideas" of Plato, and the "entelechies" of Aristotle, represent the results of the search for the real behind the appearances. The Middle Ages were busy with the problem of essence versus existence. Descartes and Spinoza were obsessed by it. Wolff and Kant changed the terms and opposed the noumenon to the phenomenon. Hegel distinguished being from existence. Modern scientists consider that the things we perceive are phenomena of the real, which is electric energy. Though there are far-reaching differences among these thinkers, the persistent common element is the distinction of reality into a true self-existent and an apparent derived one.