Convener: Brian Ness
Date: First Monday of each month
Time: 2 PM to 4 PM
Where: Hawks Nest Golf Club
brianlimpopo@gmail.com
This paper is a brief introduction the U3A Metaphysics course starting in February 2026. (Please note this is not to be confused with the 2025 ‘Metaphysics 2’ course which started a year ago and is still running).
The format will be a monthly gathering (either at the Hawks Nest Golf Club or at the U3A hall at 73 Booner St., Hawks Nest) on the 3rd Thursday of each month starting at 2pm and running for approximately 2 hours (so the first session is on 19th February). If the group would generally prefer another day I am happy to make the adjustment thereafter. The sessions will be structured as lectures – interspersed with discussion, debate and Q&A. Prior to each session non-compulsory readings will usually be circulated by email. These will provide some background to the insights and ideas being considered at the session.
This will be an intellectual journey of discovery lasting for up to 2 years. It is not essential that attendees commit to attending every session as each one is self-contained. I will distribute meeting notes after each session so that absent people are able to stay in touch. I will also be encouraging attendees with specialist expertise in any themes/ideas we wish to investigate – to lead a discussion on them.
What is Metaphysics? Another name for it is Speculative Philosophy. Here is a definition we’ll be using to guide us:
“Metaphysics is concerned with any and all aspects of lived reality which are, in principle, beyond the scope of science to fully explain” What those aspects of reality are is a great source of contention in
philosophy and in theology. The aim of metaphysics is “to draw from any and all dimensions of human experience in order to construct a tentative scheme of ideas with which to interpret that experience”.
A few deep thinkers have claimed that metaphysical thinking is a complete waste of time. Many, on the other hand, have dedicated their lives trying to penetrate and understand the metaphysical realm. Ludwig Wittgenstein, for example, said “we feel that even when all possible scientific problems have
been answered, the problems of life have not been put to rest”. I agree with Wittgenstein.
These are the sorts of questions that have typically been addressed in metaphysics:
-How do we know there is any reality beyond the physical world if we can’t directly detect or measure it?
-Why does the universe exist and how should we live in it?
-Is morality (i.e. ideas about right and wrong) an objective reality or just a cultural artefact?
-Is self-conscious life more than just an emergent property of biological matter conforming to fixed physical laws? Are humans just sophisticated machines?
-Do we humans possess a genuinely free will?
-Is there a spiritual realm – i.e. a God, or some other supreme being, or some ultimate ground of existence? If so what can we know and say about it?
-Is there any sort of existence beyond death?
-And many more…
Some people say that metaphysics is primarily concerned with these four things:
Values, Purposes, Life’s Meanings and Qualities.
Others prefer this list:
Truth, Beauty, Goodness, Purpose and Love.
We will see.
My hope is that this journey will help each of us to clarify our own thinking and to settle some of our personal quandaries in this difficult realm of thought. We will take as our guides a cross section of reputable thinkers and sages – from the modern day, back through recorded history, to
ancient sources in all the great wisdom traditions. I’m not sure where it will take us, but I am pretty sure there are no straightforward ‘right’ answers to most questions in metaphysics. Given what I have said so far, then, it seems clear that people who reject the possibility of a metaphysical realm, or people who have metaphysical commitments which they hold to with
certainty, will probably find this journey a waste of time. If you are not one of these then you’re very welcome – and I trust you will not be wasting your time. Non-members of U3A are free to attend the first couple of sessions before committing to the group and to U3A.
Our first meeting will be an introductory session aimed at clarifying what I have said above and providing a description of the ground we will be covering over the ensuing months. The first session date will probably be Thursday 19 th February. I will email out a reminder to all registered participants once the schedule and participants have been finalised. If you are interested in attending but have not given your email details either to me or to U3A please
contact me at brianlimpopo@gmail.com.
Brian Ness
11/1/26