Definitions: Scholasticism; Fideism; Metaphysics

1)      Definition of metaphysics

noun

[usually treated as singular]

• the branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space.
• abstract theory or talk with no basis in reality:his concept of society as an organic entity is, for market liberals, simply metaphysics

Metaphysics has two main strands: that which holds that what exists lies beyond experience (as argued by Plato), and that which holds that objects of experience constitute the only reality (as argued by Kant, the logical positivists, and Hume).

2)      Definition of fideism

noun

• the doctrine that knowledge depends on faith or revelation.

3)      Definition of scholasticism

noun

• the system of theology and philosophy taught in medieval European universities, based on Aristotelian logic and the writings of the early Church Fathers and having a strong emphasis on tradition and dogma.