Metaphysical properties

thumb|260x260px|A Rayonnant style [[rose window in Notre-Dame de Paris. In Gothic architecture, light was considered "the source and actual essence of all that is beautiful".]] Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes them pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, art and taste are the main subjects of aesthetics, one of the fields of study within philosophy. As a positive aesthetic value, it is contrasted with ugliness as its negative counterpart.

thumb|17th-century representation of consciousness by Robert Fludd, an English Paracelsian physician

thumb|alt=Existential quantifier|The existential quantifier ∃ is often used in [[logic to express existence.]]

Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the laws of the nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanings since the ancient world, the term "supernatural" emerged in the Middle Ages and did not exist in the ancient world. Many cultures around the world lack concepts or reject distinctions between the natural and supernatural.

Eternity, also referred to as sempiternity or forever, is time with no end i.e. infinite.

An individual is one that exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of living as an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) as a person unique from other people and possessing one's own needs or goals, rights and responsibilities. The concept of an individual features in many fields, including biology, law, and philosophy. Every individual contributes significantly to the growth of a civilization. Society is a multifaceted concept that is shaped and influenced by a wide range of different things, including human behaviors, attitudes, and ideas.

Causality is an influence by which one event, process, state, or subject (i.e., a cause) contributes to the production of another event, process, state, or object (i.e., an effect) where the cause is at least partly responsible for the effect, and the effect is at least partly dependent on the cause. The cause of something may also be described as the reason behind the event or process.

Quantity or amount is a property that includes numbers and quantifiable phenomena such as mass, time, distance, heat, angle, and information. Quantities can commonly be compared in terms of "more", "less", or "equal", or by assigning a numerical value multiple of a unit of measurement. Quantity is among the basic classes of things along with quality, substance, change, and relation. Some quantities are such by their inner nature (as number), while others function as states (properties, dimensions, attributes) of things such as heavy and light, long and short, broad and narrow, small and great,

philosophical and spiritual question concerning the significance of living or existence in general

Essence () has various meanings and uses for different thinkers and in different contexts. It is used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties or attributes that make an entity the entity it is or, expressed negatively, without which it would lose its identity. Essence is contrasted with accident, which is a property or attribute the entity has accidentally or contingently, but upon which its identity does not depend.

concept designating the extra-categorical attributes of beings

Rationality is the quality of being guided by or based on reason. In this regard, a person acts rationally if they have a good reason for what they do, or a belief is rational if it is based on strong evidence. This quality can apply to an ability, as in a rational animal, to a psychological process, like reasoning, to mental states, such as beliefs and intentions, or to persons who possess these other forms of rationality. A thing that lacks rationality is either arational, if it is outside the domain of rational evaluation, or irrational, if it belongs to this domain but does not fulfill its

A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable and logical manner. There exists countless kinds of unclassified patterns, present in everyday nature, fashion, many artistic areas, as well as a connection with mathematics. A geometric pattern is a type of pattern formed of repeating geometric shapes and typically repeated like a wallpaper design.

relation each thing bears to itself alone

philosophical idea of a person having a unique existence

The doctrine or theory of immanence holds that the divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world. It is held by some philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence. Immanence is usually applied in monotheistic, pantheistic, pandeistic, or panentheistic faiths to suggest that the spiritual world permeates the mundane. It is often contrasted with theories of transcendence, in which the divine is seen to be outside the material world.

Intentionality is the mental ability to refer to or represent something. Sometimes regarded as the mark of the mental, it is found in mental states like perceptions, beliefs or desires. For example, the perception of a tree has intentionality because it represents a tree to the perceiver. A central issue for theories of intentionality has been the problem of intentional inexistence: to determine the ontological status of the entities which are the objects of intentional states.

predominant feature that characterizes a being, a thing, a phenomenon, etc. and which differentiates one being from another, one thing from another

distinguishing feature

in metaphysics, repeatable or recurrent qualities that can be instantiated or exemplified by many particular things

conditional or implicational relationship between two statements: a necessary condition is one which must be present in order for another condition to occur, while a sufficient condition is one which produces the said condition

in metaphysics, a property that the entity or substance has contingently, without which the substance can still retain its identity

Intersubjectivity describes the shared understanding that emerges from interpersonal interactions.

thumb|200px|Conatus is, for Baruch Spinoza, where "each thing, as far as it lies in itself, strives to persevere in its being." In the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza, conatus (; :wikt:conatus; Latin for "effort; endeavor; impulse, inclination, tendency; undertaking; striving") is an innate inclination of a thing to continue to exist and enhance itself. This thing may be mind, matter, or a combination of both, and is often associated with God's will in a pantheist view of nature. The conatus may refer to the instinctive will to live of living organisms or to various metaphysical theories of motio

forms (or ideas) organize matter and make it intelligible

set of properties by which one entity is distinguished from another

alt=9–10-year-old boys of the Yao tribe in Malawi participating in circumcision and initiation rites.|thumb|Initiation ritual of boys in Malawi. The ritual marks the passage from child to adult male, a liminal stage in the context of their lives.

A disposition is a quality of character, a habit, a preparation, a state of readiness, or a tendency to act in a specified way.

In scholastic philosophy, "quiddity" (; Latin: quidditas) was another term for the essence of an object, literally its "whatness" or "what it is".

thumb|right|The upper levels on this chart can be considered to supervene on the lower levels.

In metaphysics, particulars or individuals are usually contrasted with universals. Universals concern features that can be exemplified by various different particulars.

thumb|Monument of Peter the Great in [[Saint Petersburg]] thumb|Coronation of the Hero of Virtue () by Peter Paul Rubens thumb| Great Wall of China

capacity of an agent to act in a world and make own decisions

principles which Aristotle used to analyze motion, causality, ethics, and physiology

universal principle

classifications that denote whether a term describes an object with a physical referent or one with no physical referents

Numinous () means "arousing spiritual or religious emotion; mysterious or awe-inspiring"; also "supernatural" or "appealing to the aesthetic sensibility." The term was given its present sense by the German theologian and philosopher Rudolf Otto in his influential 1917 German book The Idea of the Holy. He also used the phrase mysterium tremendum as another description for the phenomenon. Otto's concept of the numinous influenced thinkers including Carl Jung, Mircea Eliade, and C. S. Lewis. It has been applied to theology, psychology, religious studies, literary analysis, and descriptions of psy

philosophical concept

alt=impermanence|thumb|A Buddhist painting displaying Impermanence

In philosophy, the transcendentals (, from transcendere "to exceed") are the ultimate "properties of being" that exist beyond the material world, nowadays commonly considered to be truth, unity (oneness), beauty, and goodness. Formulation of transcendentals as a set arose from medieval scholasticism, namely Aquinas, though the underlying thought originated with Plato, Augustine, and Aristotle in the West.

basic distinction in philosophy

thumb|right|The ephemeral nature of Granite Plateau Creek on the Mawson Plateau means the creek is usually a series of waterholes thumb|The travelling festival Burning Man was described by one scholar as the "very definition of ephemerality".

Compossibility is a philosophical concept from Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. According to Leibniz, a complete individual thing (for example a person) is characterized by all its properties, and these determine its relations with other individuals. The existence of one individual may negate the possibility of the existence of another. A possible world is made up of individuals that are compossible—that is, individuals that can exist together.

relation of resemblance between objects

the property of stretching out or taking up space

theory of time and consciousness posited by the French philosopher Henri Bergson

fundamental philosophical abstraction; the recognition of difference

Incorporeality is "the state or quality of being incorporeal or bodiless; immateriality; incorporealism." Incorporeal () means "Not composed of matter; having no material existence."

in philosophy: an act of judgement where one term is subsumed under another

philosophical concept

Inherence refers to Empedocles' idea that the qualities of matter come from the relative proportions of each of the four elements entering into a thing. The idea was further developed by Plato and Aristotle.

point between two opposite forces that is desirable

interpretation of meaning in existentialism