After Finitude

Authors: Quentin Meillassoux

Key Ideas

1. The Problem of Correlationism: Meillassoux critiques the philosophical position of correlationism, which holds that we can only know the relation between our thoughts and the world, not the world in itself. He argues that this stance leads to a form of philosophical idealism.

2. The Absolute and Contingency: Meillassoux introduces the concept of the 'ancestral' or 'absolute' which is the realm of all possibilities outside of necessity. This challenges the idea that the laws of nature are necessary and immutable.

3. The Principle of Factiality: Meillassoux proposes the principle of factial....
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Quiz

1. According to Meillassoux, what is correlationism?

The idea that we can only know the relation between our thoughts and the world, not the world in itself.

The belief that there is no necessary order of things.

The principle that everything that exists has a reason for its existence.

The notion that the laws of nature are constant throughout space and time.

2. What is the concept of the 'ancestral' proposed by Meillassoux?

The fossilized remnants of extinct life forms.

The realm of all possibilities outside of necessity.

The method of non-correlative reason.

The idea of a necessary and unchangeable order of things.

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