THE NATURE OF REALITY 457 



to similar series in which the limit is not given. Hence his 

 inference is essentially analogical in character: Since series 

 in which the limit is not given are like the series in which the 

 limit is given, a limit may be presumed to exist also in the 

 former. This limit proves to be the realm of the super- 

 rational. 



The application of this principle, however, demands that 

 the author "produce in the world of logical thought rational 

 sequences that, by the law of their formation and progress, 

 approach and betray as a border-domain a region of reality 

 from which the dominion of logic is forever barred." x He 

 finds no difficulty in locating such instances. One has simply 

 to arrange all classes into a series upon the basis of compre- 

 hensiveness; such a series would have for a limit the class of 

 all things. But such a class would be a very peculiar thing, 

 for it would have to contain itself — something which cannot 

 occur without contradiction in the world of familiar logic. 

 Hence the fact that there are things demands that there be 

 a universe which includes everything, yet this universe must 

 be significantly different from the things which it contains. 

 Another example can be found in the arrangement of proposi- 

 tions into a series, each proposition being the joint affirma- 

 tion of the proposition immediately preceding it and some 

 other proposition, until the limit is reached which would be 

 the joint affirmation of all propositions. This, again, is itself 

 a very peculiar proposition, for it must make an affirma- 

 tion about itself — a fact which is forbidden in the realm of 

 the rational. Hence the fact that there are propositions 

 demands that there be a proposition of a type which is 

 significantly different from the elements which required its 

 existence. 



Situations of these types are characteristic of the rational. 

 " In every category where the laws of reason reign we find 

 that the great process of Idealization points aloft to some 

 form above the laws: we find that — like the Class of all 

 Classes, like the Joint Affirmation of all Propositions, like the 



1 Ibid., p. 64. 



