Metaphysics: A Study in First Principles

1882. Bowne writes: Philosophy, as a special form of mental activity, seeks to answer these two questions: How is knowledge possible? What is the true nature of reality? The first question deals with the knowing subject and his relation to the object. The aim is to give an exposition and a theory of the knowing process and to unfold its implications. The second question deals with the nature of the object viewed as a thing in itself. The first question belongs to the theory of knowledge; the second belongs to metaphysics. The work is divided into three parts, whose titles are strongly suggestive of the ancient scholastic treatises on metaphysics. Ontology, or existence in general; cosmology, or cosmical existence and processes; and psychology, or psychical existence and processes, are the divisions which reflection upon experience immediately suggests.