Ideas from 'After Finitude; the necessity of contingency' by Quentin Meillassoux [2006], by Theme Structure

[found in 'After Finitude: the necessity of contingency' by Meillassoux (ed/tr Brassier,R) [Bloomsbury 2008,978-1-4411-7383-6]].

green numbers give full details    |     back to texts     |     expand these ideas

---

1. Philosophy / B. History of Ideas / 5. Later European Thought

19648

Since Kant we think we can only access 'correlations' between thinking and being

19674

The Copernican Revolution decentres the Earth, but also decentres thinking from reality

1. Philosophy / B. History of Ideas / 6. Twentieth Century Thought

19657

In Kant the thing-in-itself is unknowable, but for us it has become unthinkable

1. Philosophy / G. Scientific Philosophy / 3. Scientism

19675

Since Kant, philosophers have claimed to understand science better than scientists do

2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 5. Objectivity

19649

Since Kant, objectivity is defined not by the object, but by the statement's potential universality

2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 2. Sufficient Reason

19666

If we insist on Sufficient Reason the world will always be a mystery to us

2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 3. Non-Contradiction

19656

Non-contradiction is unjustified, so it only reveals a fact about thinking, not about reality?

4. Formal Logic / E. Nonclassical Logics / 7. Paraconsistency

19663

We can allow contradictions in thought, but not inconsistency

19664

Paraconsistent logics are to prevent computers crashing when data conflicts

19665

Paraconsistent logic is about statements, not about contradictions in reality

6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 4. Using Numbers / g. Applying mathematics

19677

What is mathematically conceivable is absolutely possible

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 1. Nature of Existence

19659

The absolute is the impossibility of there being a necessary existent

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 5. Reason for Existence

19662

It is necessarily contingent that there is one thing rather than another - so something must exist

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 6. Criterion for Existence

19654

We must give up the modern criterion of existence, which is a correlation between thought and being

10. Modality / B. Possibility / 5. Contingency

19660

Possible non-being which must be realised is 'precariousness'; absolute contingency might never not-be

10. Modality / B. Possibility / 7. Chance

19671

The idea of chance relies on unalterable physical laws

11. Knowledge Aims / C. Knowing Reality / 3. Idealism / b. Transcendental idealism

19651

Unlike speculative idealism, transcendental idealism assumes the mind is embodied

12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 2. Qualities in Perception / c. Primary qualities

19647

The aspects of objects that can be mathematical allow it to have objective properties

14. Science / B. Scientific Theories / 1. Scientific Theory

19652

How can we mathematically describe a world that lacks humans?

14. Science / C. Induction / 3. Limits of Induction

19668

Hume's question is whether experimental science will still be valid tomorrow

16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 4. Presupposition of Self

19650

The transcendental subject is not an entity, but a set of conditions making science possible

26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 8. Scientific Essentialism / b. Scientific necessity

19667

If the laws of nature are contingent, shouldn't we already have noticed it?

19670

Why are contingent laws of nature stable?

28. God / B. Proving God / 2. Proofs of Reason / a. Ontological Proof

19653

The ontological proof of a necessary God ensures a reality external to the mind

28. God / C. Attitudes to God / 5. Atheism

19658

Now that the absolute is unthinkable, even atheism is just another religious belief (though nihilist)