What is at stake in that form of inquiry which the Western philosophical tradition has called first philosophy or metaphysics Is this an abstract, now outmoded branch of philosophy, or does it address a problem that is still of great interest - namely, the unity of Western knowledge br br In fact, metaphysics is 'first' only in relation to the other two sciences that Aristotle called theoretical physics and mathematics. It is the strategic sense of this 'primacy' that needs to be examined because what is at issue here is nothing less than the relationship of domination or subservience, conflict or harmony, between philosophy and science. The hypothesis of this book is that philosophy's attempt to use metaphysics as a way of securing its primacy among the sciences has resulted instead in its subservience philosophy, once handmaiden to theology ancilla theologiae, has now become more or less consciously handmaiden to the sciences ancilla scientiarum. So it is all the more urgent to exp