Ostensive metaphysics is the integral part of metaphysics that deals directly with being as being and all that can be per se connected to being, including those topics which are sometimes referred as “natural theology.”   Defensive metaphysics refers to that integral part of metaphysics, which considers the metaphysical first principles and defends them against those who would deny them.  According to some, defensive metaphysics also defends the possibility of human knowledge insofar as epistemology can be reduced to metaphysics.  This division of metaphysics is relatively recent; it does not mark out two separate disciplines, but only two integral parts of the whole of metaphysics.