This book is derived from Professor MacKinnon’s Gifford Lectures of 1965 and 1966, and approaches the field of metaphysics from an individual and unique manner. There are lengthy discussions of the works and theories of Plato, Aristotle and Kant, but for the majority of the book MacKinnon avoids the usual philosophic arguments and attempts to show how the metaphysician may transcend from the finite to the infinite. MacKinnon is not content with the mere articulation of fundamental conceptual structure which descriptive metaphysics utilises, but sees the need to ‘thrust against the limits of language’. Any philosopher who attempts to write about metaphysics is faced with the problem of defining and talking about what it literally indefinable and unsayable. Professor MacKinnon has created herein a thought-provoking argument on the subject of metaphysics, and where his line of reasoning seems somewhat scattered and lacking in evidence, this is solely due to the intrinsic difficulties of metaphysics as a field.

KEY WORDS: metaphysics, Kant, Plato, Aristotle, concepts, parables, transcendence, tragedy, discovery, language, fact, truth, dialogue, Republic, transcendence, discovery, innovation, empirical, ethics, tragedy