TITLE: Equalizers and Basic limit theorem in Category theory
QUESTION [5 upvotes]: I think I've found an error in Benjamin Pierce's Basic Category Theory for Computer Scientists proof of the Basic Limit Theorem. This usually means I've misunderstood something. Can you point out the flaw in the following reasoning?

Theorem: Let $\textbf{D}$ be a diagram in a category $\textbf{C}$, with sets $V$ of vertices and $E$ of edges. If every $V$-indexed and every $E$-indexed family of objects in $\textbf{C}$ has a product and every pair of arrows in $\textbf{C}$ has an equalizer then $\textbf{D}$ has a limit.

The proof proceeds roughly as follows:

Construct the product $\Pi_{I \in V}D_I$ of objects in $\textbf{D}$. Construct the product $\Pi_{(I \xrightarrow{e} J \in E)}D_J$. For any $\textbf{D}$-edge $D_e : D_I \rightarrow D_J$ there are two ways from $\Pi_{I\in V}D_I$ to any $D_J$. Those are $\pi_J$ and $D_e \circ \pi_I$. Form a family of arrows from each method. Each family induces a mediating arrow from $\Pi_{I\in V}D_I$ to $\Pi_{(I \xrightarrow{e} J \in E)}D_J$, call those $p$ and $q$. Select $e : X \rightarrow \Pi_{I\in V}D_I$ such that $e$ equalizes $p$ and $q$. $X$ is a limit of $\textbf{D}$.

This is nice and concise. My trouble is this: What if there are two $D_e : D_I \rightarrow D_J$? In that case, there are potentially many more than two ways from $\Pi_{I\in V}D_I$ to each $D_J$ and potentially many more than two mediating arrows $\Pi_{I\in V}D_I$ to $\Pi_{(I \xrightarrow{e} J \in E)}D_J$.
Note that this does not affect the proof: $\textbf{C}$ is assumed to be a small category, and no matter how many mediating arrows you have between the two products you can just keep stacking on equalizers until you've equalized them all (at which point you've constructed your limit).
However, there's no mention of this in the text, and it leaves me wondering whether I'm crazy and/or missing something obvious.

REPLY [2 votes]: $\DeclareMathOperator {\cod}{cod}$ Note about my notation: There is no loss of generality just to say that $V$ and $E$ consist of the objects and arrows (respectively) of the diagram $\mathbf D$. Thus, the product of objects is $P_1=\prod_{I\in V}I$ and the other product is $P_2=\prod_{e\in E}\cod(e)$, where I use $\cod(e)$ to refer to the codomain of $e$; if $e:I\to J$, then $\cod(e)=J$.
Now, you asked what happens to two arrows $e,e':I\to J$ in $\mathbf D$. Since they are different elements of $E$, they will represent different "copies" of $J$ in the product $P_2$. In category theory one uses projections to formalize the notion of "copies". Specifically, the projections $\pi_e$ and $\pi_{e'}$ from $P_2$ to $J$ allow us to differentiate between the instance of $J$ corresponding to $e$ and the instance of $J$ corresponding to $e'$.
Let's see how this works by examining the arrow $q$. It is defined by the property that $\pi_e\circ q=e\circ\pi_I$ for all $e\in E$. Thus, if $e,e'$ are as above, then $q$ must map into the coordinate $e$, so to say, by behaving like $e\circ\pi_I$. Likewise $q$ must map into the coordinate $e'$ by behaving like $e'\circ\pi_I$. Since $e\circ\pi_I$ and $e'\circ\pi_I$ can be completely different, so can $q$ in these two coordinates.
Notice that the equation $\cod e=J=\cod e'$ really has little impact on $q$. In fact, if I were to sum up the above paragraph, it would be: the arrows $e$ and $e'$ dictate the behavior of $q$, not their codomains.