Stewart Umphrey expertly describes the limits of analysis as they have come to light within mathematics, the natural sciences, and analytic philosophy, explaining how Aristotle came upon, and sought to move beyond, the limits of ontological analysis. In trying to understand any complex entity, Umphrey argues, one succeeds in meeting the criterion of metaphysical adequacy only if one fails to meet the crietrion of epistemological adequacy. Ranging across an array of subjects including Kantian and Hegelian idealism, this book provides a superb account of how our own complexity presents not only theoretical problems, but ethical and political dilemmas of great practical significance.