Metaphysical Principles

Metaphysics has traditionally been conceived, if no longer as the "science", at least as the study of "first principles". However, although history provides us with various examples of what the latter could be (e.g., the Principle of Non-Contradiction, the Principle of Sufficient Reason, etc.) and of what their "priority" might amount to, a lot more needs to be said about what, exactly, a metaphysical principle consists in, and whether (and/or how) it can be known. Is it a general or fundamental truth about the furniture or structure of reality? Should it be rather viewed as a type of basic or non-inferential, intuitive, non evidential knowledge about the world ? Can we take first principles as axioms? Is there anything special about metaphysical axioms? Can we easily distinguish between metaphysical, logical, mathematical and theological principles and why should we be able to do so ?  How can we draw the distinction between the epistemological foundation or grounding of metaphysics and the metaphysical foundation or ground  itself ? In other words, how are we to differentiate between the principles on which metaphysical knowledge depends and the principles on which being itself depends ? Last and not least: why is this such a challenge today for a metaphysician? Such are some of the thorny issues to be examined and discussed during the conference.