In this pioneering book, noted international scholars explore the limits and definitions of knowledge, thought and meaning as we move into the twenty-first century. Coming from fields as diverse as anthropology, philosophy, literature, aesthetics and art practice, together they break down the boundaries between entrenched domains of knowledge. Fascinating studies of objects which confound traditional definitions - including a mechanical cow invented by an Irish farmer, and the curious case of a mechanical monk - show how a close look at an individual object can, paradoxically, open up dynamic new 'reconceptions' of traditional systems of knowledge.