Who can deny the extraordinary achievements of science in the last century? The technology that we rely on everyday and the life-saving medical procedures that were unavailable to previous times are all the fruit of scientific research. It is so easy to be proud of our scientific achievements that many have come to view science as the pinnacle of human knowledge. In fact, some scientists and philosophers hold that science is the only way to knowledge. This later view is sometimes called scientism.

For example, chemist Peter W. Atkins, in a 2007 debate with theologian Alister E. McGrath, said: “Science … is, after all, the only true way of knowing anything. … There are no limits to science ... I see nothing that … the scientific method is incapable of touching.” In addition, the philosopher Jaegwon Kim has remarked that some philosophers seem to hold that “[the] scientific method is the only method for acquiring knowledge or reliable information in all spheres including philosophy.”

The above views are in direct conflict with the long-standing view in Western philosophy that metaphysics is the highest form of natural human knowledge. Aristotle used the word Wisdom to refer to what we call metaphysics, and he said that it studied, among other things, the ultimate causes of things. Aristotle also used the phrase “first philosophy” to make clear that metaphysics is the highest form of human knowledge. In opposition to those scientists and philosophers who hold that scientists have no need for metaphysics, I will argue in this paper that metaphysics is inescapable.