形而上学

形而上學
xíng'érshàngxué
noun #44,792

Meanings

  1. 1 metaphysics
  2. 2 metaphysical (often pejorative in Marxist usage)

Examples

Tā duì xíng'érshàngxué hěn gǎn xìngqù.
He is very interested in metaphysics.
Zhè zhǒng kàn wèntí de fāngshì tài xíng'érshàngxué le.
This way of looking at problems is too metaphysical.

Tips

history
The term comes from the Yijing line (xíng'érshàng zhě wèi zhī dào — 'what is above form is called the Way'), which Japanese scholars repurposed in the 19th century to translate Aristotle's Metaphysics. China then borrowed the term back.
usage
In Marxist Chinese writing, 形而上学 often means 'rigid, non-dialectical thinking' rather than the philosophical discipline. Context decides which sense is intended.

Stroke Order

xíng
ér
shàng
xué