William Desmond is Professor of Philosophy, and Director of the International Program in Philosophy, in the Higher Institute of Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Louvain), Belgium. He is the author of Art and the Absolute: A Study of Hegel's Aesthetics; Philosophy and Its Others: Ways of Being and Mind; Beyond Hegel and Dialectic: Speculation, Cult, and Comedy (all published by SUNY Press); and Desire, Dialectic and Otherness. He is the editor of Hegel and His Critics, also published by SUNY Press. He is a past President of the Hegel Society of America and is currently President of the Metaphysical Society of America. He is general editor of the SUNY series in Hegelian Studies.

• PrefacePart I: Metaphysical Thinking and the Senses of Being 1. What is Metaphysical Thinking? Mind, Being, and the Between The Question of BeingThe Doubling of Metaphysical PerplexityAgapeic AstonishmentErotic Perplexity and the Completion of MetaphysicsMetaphysical Thinking and UnivocityMetaphysical Thinking and EquivocityMetaphysics and Transcendental ThoughtMetaphyscial Thinking and Hegelian IdealismMetaxological Metaphysics and Born-Again PerplexityThe Others of Metaphysics - Art, Religion, and ScienceMetaphysical Thinking and Being Between2. Being and Univocity Prelapsarian/Postlapsarian UnivocityOntological and Logical UnivocityCartesian UnivocityPost-Cartesian and Transcendental UnivocityUnivocity and the Universal MechanismThe Self-Deconstruction of the Mechanism of UnivocityBeyond Univocity3. Being and Equivocity Univocity, Correctness, and the Milieu of TruthThe Indispensability of the Equivocal Equivocity and the Aesthetics of BeingThe Mathesis of Nature, the Poiesis of NaturingThe Equivocal Flower: On the OrchidThe Acme of Equivocity: The Human BeingPhilosophers: Equivocaters on the EquivocalEquivocity and Incommensurability4. Being and Dialectic The Equivocity of the Equivical - A Pointer BeyondDialectic and the Philosophical TraditionDialectic and BeingsDialectic and Human BeingsDialectic and the Happening of the BetweenHegelian Dialectic, Being and the Between5. Being and the Metaxological The Plurivocity of Being and the MetaxologicalThe Metaxological and the Play of Indeterminacy and DeterminationBeings and the Show of Excess - Singularity and the "That it is"Excess, Mindfulness, and the Human BeingThe Metaxological and the Community of BeingsThe Metaxological and the Happening of the BetweenThe Way of Transcendence - From Metaphor to HyperbolePart II: Being and the Between - A Metaphysics 6. Origin The Question of OriginMindfulness, Transcendence, and FinitudeUnivocity, Origin, and the OneAntinomy, Origin, and the OneThe Dialectical One, the Erotic OriginThe Exceeding One, the Agapeic OriginWhat Then?7. Creation: The Universal Impermanence Creation and Beginning AgainThe Elemental and Rapturous UnivocityHeterogeneity and Equivocal ProcessMediated Becoming and DialecticThe Middle World of Creation/The Universal Impermanence8. Things Things and Mere ThingsThe Unity and Spread of ThingsThe Plurivocal Presencing of ThingsOverdetermined Presencing/The Intimacy of the ProperThings and Community9. Intelligibilities The Question of IntelligibilityIntelligibility Produced and Inherent: The Possibilizing of PossibilityDarwing a Line - Intelligibility and UnivocityIntelligibility and the Challenge of Equivocity - On Contradiction, Sufficient Reason, CausalityIntelligibility and DialecticIntelligibility and the Metaxological10. Selves SelvingThe Idiot Self and UnivocityAesthetic Selving and EquivocityAesthetic Selving and Mediation: Desire, Imagination, MemoryErotic Selving and DialecticAgapeic Selving and the Metaxological11. Communities Being RelatedNature and CommunitySelf-Relating Sociability and Communicative DoublingThe Community of Distracted DesireThe Community of Erotic SovereigntyThe Community of Agapeic ServiceTransformed Relations and Agapeic Participation12. Being True Truth and Being TrueTruth, Correspondence, and UnivocityTruth, Equivocity, and SkepticismTruth, Coherence, and PowerTruthfulness and the Agapeic Service of TranscendenceTruthfulness and the Excess of the Origin13. Being Good Being True, Transcendence, Being GoodOntological Goodness and NihilismEvil and the Equivocity of the GoodDialectic and the GoodBeyond the Dialectic of the GoodGood beyond Good and EvilThe Agape of the GoodService of the Good NihilismIndex

"What I like most about the book is that it is a fully developed, comprehensively argued, philosophical system. There are precious few of these, for reasons Desmond discusses, and here is one, all in one book. Although anticipated in Desmond's earlier books, here is the system fully expressed in Western philosophy. His erudition is exquisite, yet his expositions make this book wonderfully useful for philosophy majors who would be excited to read a philosopher interacting with the figures to which they have been introduced." — Robert C. Neville

William Desmond is Professor of Philosophy, and Director of the International Program in Philosophy, in the Higher Institute of Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Louvain), Belgium. He is the author of Art and the Absolute: A Study of Hegel's Aesthetics; Philosophy and Its Others: Ways of Being and Mind; Beyond Hegel and Dialectic: Speculation, Cult, and Comedy (all published by SUNY Press); and Desire, Dialectic and Otherness. He is the editor of Hegel and His Critics, also published by SUNY Press. He is a past President of the Hegel Society of America and is currently President of the Metaphysical Society of America. He is general editor of the SUNY series in Hegelian Studies.

• PrefacePart I: Metaphysical Thinking and the Senses of Being 1. What is Metaphysical Thinking? Mind, Being, and the Between The Question of BeingThe Doubling of Metaphysical PerplexityAgapeic AstonishmentErotic Perplexity and the Completion of MetaphysicsMetaphysical Thinking and UnivocityMetaphysical Thinking and EquivocityMetaphysics and Transcendental ThoughtMetaphyscial Thinking and Hegelian IdealismMetaxological Metaphysics and Born-Again PerplexityThe Others of Metaphysics - Art, Religion, and ScienceMetaphysical Thinking and Being Between2. Being and Univocity Prelapsarian/Postlapsarian UnivocityOntological and Logical UnivocityCartesian UnivocityPost-Cartesian and Transcendental UnivocityUnivocity and the Universal MechanismThe Self-Deconstruction of the Mechanism of UnivocityBeyond Univocity3. Being and Equivocity Univocity, Correctness, and the Milieu of TruthThe Indispensability of the Equivocal Equivocity and the Aesthetics of BeingThe Mathesis of Nature, the Poiesis of NaturingThe Equivocal Flower: On the OrchidThe Acme of Equivocity: The Human BeingPhilosophers: Equivocaters on the EquivocalEquivocity and Incommensurability4. Being and Dialectic The Equivocity of the Equivical - A Pointer BeyondDialectic and the Philosophical TraditionDialectic and BeingsDialectic and Human BeingsDialectic and the Happening of the BetweenHegelian Dialectic, Being and the Between5. Being and the Metaxological The Plurivocity of Being and the MetaxologicalThe Metaxological and the Play of Indeterminacy and DeterminationBeings and the Show of Excess - Singularity and the "That it is"Excess, Mindfulness, and the Human BeingThe Metaxological and the Community of BeingsThe Metaxological and the Happening of the BetweenThe Way of Transcendence - From Metaphor to HyperbolePart II: Being and the Between - A Metaphysics 6. Origin The Question of OriginMindfulness, Transcendence, and FinitudeUnivocity, Origin, and the OneAntinomy, Origin, and the OneThe Dialectical One, the Erotic OriginThe Exceeding One, the Agapeic OriginWhat Then?7. Creation: The Universal Impermanence Creation and Beginning AgainThe Elemental and Rapturous UnivocityHeterogeneity and Equivocal ProcessMediated Becoming and DialecticThe Middle World of Creation/The Universal Impermanence8. Things Things and Mere ThingsThe Unity and Spread of ThingsThe Plurivocal Presencing of ThingsOverdetermined Presencing/The Intimacy of the ProperThings and Community9. Intelligibilities The Question of IntelligibilityIntelligibility Produced and Inherent: The Possibilizing of PossibilityDarwing a Line - Intelligibility and UnivocityIntelligibility and the Challenge of Equivocity - On Contradiction, Sufficient Reason, CausalityIntelligibility and DialecticIntelligibility and the Metaxological10. Selves SelvingThe Idiot Self and UnivocityAesthetic Selving and EquivocityAesthetic Selving and Mediation: Desire, Imagination, MemoryErotic Selving and DialecticAgapeic Selving and the Metaxological11. Communities Being RelatedNature and CommunitySelf-Relating Sociability and Communicative DoublingThe Community of Distracted DesireThe Community of Erotic SovereigntyThe Community of Agapeic ServiceTransformed Relations and Agapeic Participation12. Being True Truth and Being TrueTruth, Correspondence, and UnivocityTruth, Equivocity, and SkepticismTruth, Coherence, and PowerTruthfulness and the Agapeic Service of TranscendenceTruthfulness and the Excess of the Origin13. Being Good Being True, Transcendence, Being GoodOntological Goodness and NihilismEvil and the Equivocity of the GoodDialectic and the GoodBeyond the Dialectic of the GoodGood beyond Good and EvilThe Agape of the GoodService of the Good NihilismIndex

"What I like most about the book is that it is a fully developed, comprehensively argued, philosophical system. There are precious few of these, for reasons Desmond discusses, and here is one, all in one book. Although anticipated in Desmond's earlier books, here is the system fully expressed in Western philosophy. His erudition is exquisite, yet his expositions make this book wonderfully useful for philosophy majors who would be excited to read a philosopher interacting with the figures to which they have been introduced." — Robert C. Neville

William Desmond is Professor of Philosophy, and Director of the International Program in Philosophy, in the Higher Institute of Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Louvain), Belgium. He is the author of Art and the Absolute: A Study of Hegel's Aesthetics; Philosophy and Its Others: Ways of Being and Mind; Beyond Hegel and Dialectic: Speculation, Cult, and Comedy (all published by SUNY Press); and Desire, Dialectic and Otherness. He is the editor of Hegel and His Critics, also published by SUNY Press. He is a past President of the Hegel Society of America and is currently President of the Metaphysical Society of America. He is general editor of the SUNY series in Hegelian Studies.

• PrefacePart I: Metaphysical Thinking and the Senses of Being 1. What is Metaphysical Thinking? Mind, Being, and the Between The Question of BeingThe Doubling of Metaphysical PerplexityAgapeic AstonishmentErotic Perplexity and the Completion of MetaphysicsMetaphysical Thinking and UnivocityMetaphysical Thinking and EquivocityMetaphysics and Transcendental ThoughtMetaphyscial Thinking and Hegelian IdealismMetaxological Metaphysics and Born-Again PerplexityThe Others of Metaphysics - Art, Religion, and ScienceMetaphysical Thinking and Being Between2. Being and Univocity Prelapsarian/Postlapsarian UnivocityOntological and Logical UnivocityCartesian UnivocityPost-Cartesian and Transcendental UnivocityUnivocity and the Universal MechanismThe Self-Deconstruction of the Mechanism of UnivocityBeyond Univocity3. Being and Equivocity Univocity, Correctness, and the Milieu of TruthThe Indispensability of the Equivocal Equivocity and the Aesthetics of BeingThe Mathesis of Nature, the Poiesis of NaturingThe Equivocal Flower: On the OrchidThe Acme of Equivocity: The Human BeingPhilosophers: Equivocaters on the EquivocalEquivocity and Incommensurability4. Being and Dialectic The Equivocity of the Equivical - A Pointer BeyondDialectic and the Philosophical TraditionDialectic and BeingsDialectic and Human BeingsDialectic and the Happening of the BetweenHegelian Dialectic, Being and the Between5. Being and the Metaxological The Plurivocity of Being and the MetaxologicalThe Metaxological and the Play of Indeterminacy and DeterminationBeings and the Show of Excess - Singularity and the "That it is"Excess, Mindfulness, and the Human BeingThe Metaxological and the Community of BeingsThe Metaxological and the Happening of the BetweenThe Way of Transcendence - From Metaphor to HyperbolePart II: Being and the Between - A Metaphysics 6. Origin The Question of OriginMindfulness, Transcendence, and FinitudeUnivocity, Origin, and the OneAntinomy, Origin, and the OneThe Dialectical One, the Erotic OriginThe Exceeding One, the Agapeic OriginWhat Then?7. Creation: The Universal Impermanence Creation and Beginning AgainThe Elemental and Rapturous UnivocityHeterogeneity and Equivocal ProcessMediated Becoming and DialecticThe Middle World of Creation/The Universal Impermanence8. Things Things and Mere ThingsThe Unity and Spread of ThingsThe Plurivocal Presencing of ThingsOverdetermined Presencing/The Intimacy of the ProperThings and Community9. Intelligibilities The Question of IntelligibilityIntelligibility Produced and Inherent: The Possibilizing of PossibilityDarwing a Line - Intelligibility and UnivocityIntelligibility and the Challenge of Equivocity - On Contradiction, Sufficient Reason, CausalityIntelligibility and DialecticIntelligibility and the Metaxological10. Selves SelvingThe Idiot Self and UnivocityAesthetic Selving and EquivocityAesthetic Selving and Mediation: Desire, Imagination, MemoryErotic Selving and DialecticAgapeic Selving and the Metaxological11. Communities Being RelatedNature and CommunitySelf-Relating Sociability and Communicative DoublingThe Community of Distracted DesireThe Community of Erotic SovereigntyThe Community of Agapeic ServiceTransformed Relations and Agapeic Participation12. Being True Truth and Being TrueTruth, Correspondence, and UnivocityTruth, Equivocity, and SkepticismTruth, Coherence, and PowerTruthfulness and the Agapeic Service of TranscendenceTruthfulness and the Excess of the Origin13. Being Good Being True, Transcendence, Being GoodOntological Goodness and NihilismEvil and the Equivocity of the GoodDialectic and the GoodBeyond the Dialectic of the GoodGood beyond Good and EvilThe Agape of the GoodService of the Good NihilismIndex

"What I like most about the book is that it is a fully developed, comprehensively argued, philosophical system. There are precious few of these, for reasons Desmond discusses, and here is one, all in one book. Although anticipated in Desmond's earlier books, here is the system fully expressed in Western philosophy. His erudition is exquisite, yet his expositions make this book wonderfully useful for philosophy majors who would be excited to read a philosopher interacting with the figures to which they have been introduced." — Robert C. Neville