Beyond the Limits of Thought

This second and extended edition of Priest's classic includes new chapters on Heidegger and Nagarjuna, as well as reflections on reactions to the first edition. Praise for previous edition: "a splendid tour de force , one which should be read by every philosopher..."-- Philosophical Quarterly "[H]ighly entertaining and provocative...an engaging and instructive tour through some of the most perplexing features of our own conceptual finitude..."-- TLS

Graham Priest is Boyce Gibson Professor of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne, and also Arche Professorial Fellow at the University of St. Andrews.

Preface to the First Edition

xv

Preface to the Second Edition

xvii

Introduction

1

(2)

Beyond the limit

3

(6)

The limits of thought

3

(1)

Dialetheism

4

(2)

The history of limits

6

(1)

The structure of the book

6

(1)

. . . and the role of logic in it

7

(2)

Part 1 The limits of thought in pre-Kantian philosophy

9

(62)

The limits of expression

11

(14)

Introduction

11

(1)

The flux

11

(1)

Plato against Cratylus

12

(3)

The stability of meaning

15

(1)

Aristotle on substance and change

16

(1)

Prime matter

17

(2)

The problem with prime matter

19

(1)

Subject and form

20

(2)

Cusanus on God

22

(1)

Objects and categories

23

(2)

Conclusion

24

(1)

The limits of iteration

25

(15)

Introduction

25

(1)

Generated infinities

26

(1)

. . . in Aristotle

26

(1)

Time

27

(1)

Motion

28

(2)

The continuum

30

(2)

Infinite parts

32

(2)

Aquinas' cosmological argument

34

(2)

Leibniz' repair

36

(2)

The principle of sufficient reason

38

(2)

Conclusion

39

(1)

The limits of cognition

40

(16)

Introduction

40

(1)

Varieties of skepticism

41

(1)

Sextus' argument for skepticism

42

(2)

Analysis of the argument

44

(2)

Skepticism and self-reference

46

(2)

Protagorean relativism

48

(1)

The argument for relativism

49

(1)

Socrates' attack

50

(2)

Nothing is true

52

(1)

Cognition and paradox

53

(3)

Conclusion

55

(1)

The limits of conception

56

(15)

Introduction

56

(1)

Anselm's ontological argument

56

(1)

The inconceivability of God

57

(2)

The characterisation principle

59

(1)

Berkeley's master argument for idealism

60

(1)

Analysis, stage I

61

(2)

Analysis, stage II

63

(2)

Berkeley's response

65

(3)

Some objections

68

(1)

Berkeley's paradox

69

(2)

Conclusion

70

(1)

Part 2 The limits of thought in Kant and Hegel

71

(40)

Noumena and the categories

73

(12)

Introduction

73

(1)

Phenomena and noumena

74

(1)

The categories of judgment

75

(2)

The applicability of the categories

77

(2)

The law of causation

79

(1)

The contradictory nature of noumena

80

(3)

Analogy

83

(2)

Conclusion

84

(1)

Kant's antinomies

85

(17)

Introduction

85

(1)

The transcendental illusion

85

(2)

The antinomies: their abstract structure

87

(1)

First antinomy: the beginning of the cosmos

88

(2)

Second antinomy: the divisibility of matter

90

(2)

Third antinomy: causal chains

92

(2)

Fourth antinomy: a necessary being

94

(2)

Kant's solution(s)

96

(2)

Evaluation

98

(2)

Fifth antinomy: the limit of thought

100

(2)

Conclusion

101

(1)

Hegel's infinities

102

(9)

Introduction

102

(1)

Hegel's critique of Kant

102

(1)

Contradiction in the world

103

(1)

Hegel's dialectic

104

(1)

The false infinite

105

(2)

The true infinite

107

(4)

Conclusion

109

(2)

Part 3 Limits and the paradoxes of self-reference

111

(59)

Absolute infinity

113

(15)

Introduction

113

(1)

The ordinals

113

(2)

Cantor's absolute, mark I

115

(2)

Diagonalisation

117

(2)

Paradox

119

(1)

Kant and Cantor

120

(1)

Cantor's absolute, mark II

121

(2)

The domain principle

123

(2)

. . . and its defence

125

(3)

Conclusion

126

(2)

Vicious circles

128

(13)

Introduction

128

(1)

Russell's paradox

128

(1)

Russell's schema

129

(2)

Definability

131

(2)

The inclosure schema

133

(2)

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Beyond the Limits of Thought

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials