Questions tagged [infinity]
Use for questions about the properties, nature, or definition of infinitude.
134
questions
24
votes
24
answers
8k
views
Is infinity a number?
So I've been on a number of math fora, part of learning some calculus (not much of set theory, no). To my surprise I found what I would describe as strong resistance from some folks against (using) ...
- 4,361
0
votes
2
answers
64
views
Is there any major benefit to using NAND in infinitary logic?
In infinitary logic (there's an SEP entry about it), you can have infinitely long conjunctions and disjunctions. But imagine that different logics are like different video games. Usually, to my ...
- 16.7k
3
votes
2
answers
151
views
Final Steps and Zeno's Paradox
In the SEP article on supertasks, it states that:
Max Black (1950) argued that it is nevertheless impossible to complete the Zeno task, since there is no final step in the infinite sequence. The ...
- 695
2
votes
1
answer
82
views
Need help understanding how certain mathemetical statements across the landscape can seemingly contradict (e.g. Cantor-Hume vs Euclid)
Here are the main components to my understanding on this issue:
Almost all of math can be given in a foundation of set theory
Different math can seemingly contradict, e.g. in Euclidean geometry ...
- 2,942
2
votes
6
answers
602
views
Is the B-theory of time only compatible with an infinitely renewing cyclical reality?
I'm not a mathematician and I may be misunderstanding some aspects of this concept.
According to the B-theory of time, the flow of time is an illusion, and every point in time exists equally. If this ...
- 217
0
votes
2
answers
90
views
A thought process: understanding infinite density (black hole) from a temporal stance using a hypothetical Ouroboros [closed]
The two main focus questions:
Could a snake theoretically devour itself whole?
Does a black whole actually have infinite density and zero volume?
Everything below is just extra explanatory steps on ...
- 1,539
9
votes
15
answers
3k
views
Is infinity a concept or a word empty of meaning?
I'm wondering if infinity is a concept.
We know from experience that there are things for which one cannot reach the end. A long way through the space is an example. One cannot reach the end of the ...
- 345
1
vote
5
answers
172
views
Is there some sort of disconnect between the math we use and our "observed phenomena" in reality?
So my question comes from two questions on this site one of them being my own, How small can we measure space? and Is the (surprising) applicability of mathematics to the physical world a brute fact ...
- 1,539
2
votes
4
answers
544
views
What is the state-of-the-art of formal definitions of God?
Isn't the only formal analytic definition of God, that of Cantor's Absolute Infinity?
What is the state-of-the-art of this approach?
Are there other definitions?
- 154
0
votes
2
answers
105
views
Constructing an infinite interval with a definite starting point given an infinite past [duplicate]
I had a question regarding constructing an infinite interval with a starting point given an an infinite past. I wish to model an infinite past in a non-formal non-rigorous set theoretic manner and was ...
- 17
6
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Has anybody revised Kant's Antinomies of space & time in view of modern physics?
Has anybody updated Kant's antinomies in view of modern physics?
In The Critique of Pure Reason (1781) he laid out the Antinomies of Pure Reason highlighting contradictions in the ideas of time and ...
- 6,284
2
votes
5
answers
211
views
Can anything happen at any time right now if there is infinite Possibilities in life?
If we live in a world with possibly infinite realities, and infinite space, doesn't that mean that there is an chance that anything could happen?
- 177
1
vote
4
answers
76
views
Is learning an infinite loop?
We learn from people who were taught by other people. Those people were taught by other people. Those people were taught by other people.
For example, a professor teaching in a university was once ...
- 228
1
vote
0
answers
92
views
Completeness in finished system
Gödel's incompleteness theorems addresse formal axiomatic théories.
Incompleteness of arithmetic of natural numbers is an example.
My question is if a theory regarding a finite class of numbers cannot ...
- 345
4
votes
2
answers
143
views
Is there a philosophical or mathematical proof for "For any observation or claim, there's an infinite number of assumptions we presume to be true?"
Is there a philosophical or mathematical proof for "For any observation or claim, there's an infinite number of assumptions we presume to be true?"
It doesn't seem to make any sense, but ...
- 4,249
3
votes
6
answers
286
views
If God is infinite and unchangeable how is there room for the universe? [closed]
If God is infinite and God cannot change, how is there room for the universe?, how could the universe come into existence?
UPDATE:
By "room" or "space" I did not necessarily mean ...
- 47
3
votes
1
answer
118
views
Can the AC-DC argument against infinitism be defused?
Infinitism is the epistemic theory that claims that justification is only achieved by an infinite chain of non-repeating reasons.
At first, this feels like the "troll" theory of epistemic ...
- 4,841
2
votes
2
answers
218
views
What philosophy of mathematics denies the existence of uncountable sets?
Finitism denies the existence of infinite mathematical objects (e.g. quantification over infinite domains is not considered meaningful). Is the position that denies the existence of uncountable sets (...
user70755
3
votes
3
answers
463
views
Is there a way to prove we live in a universe of infinite or finite “things”?
Sometimes I wonder if science has limits. On one hand; logically no; there will always be something that we don’t understand and when we create new things it leads to other new things. On the other ...
- 395
0
votes
4
answers
480
views
Isn’t the impossibility of an actual infinite in time almost by definition?
I have seen many philosophers argue that it is not contradictory to suppose that an actual infinite can exist.
But infinite in the future or past means never ending. If it never ends, it never ...
user62907
1
vote
1
answer
76
views
Does absolute eternality entail timelessness?
Assuming one is committed to the idea that an actual infinite amount of time can never pass, does eternality entail timelessness?
- 695
4
votes
4
answers
603
views
How to understand the notion of majority when comparing infinite sets?
Suppose I make the argument:
It is very unlikely that in a naturalistic universe, the constants have life sustaining values, since the majority of metaphysically possible universes do not have such ...
- 261
1
vote
1
answer
190
views
Should proofs of God involve the infinitary language ℒ(∞,∞)?
If God is an infinite being (per Scotus, say), and if no finite number of steps in an argument is adequate to the scope of the divine majesty, then the strictures of monadic theism aside (God as a ...
- 16.7k
1
vote
0
answers
64
views
Probabilities and Certainties on the Monkey Axis: Yet more about those monkey typists
I was reading with some interest the answers and comments to this question about that familiar, weird and somewhat inhumane infinite-monkey experiment which, somehow, is still generating fresh and ...
- 21
20
votes
13
answers
11k
views
Why would infinite monkeys not produce the works of Shakespeare?
Apologies if this is a very basic/obvious question. I have no training in philosophy, but have been making my way through Peter Adamson's History of Philosophy podcast.
Recently I listened to his ...
- 303
3
votes
0
answers
87
views
If the finite-indefinite-infinite distinction is not exhaustive, does this affect Kant's resolution of the antinomies?
From the modern point of view, infinity comes not only in various flavors (some of which Kant seems to have been aware of), but various sizes. So when Kant talks about conceptions as being too small ...
- 16.7k
1
vote
1
answer
62
views
Understanding Aristotle's argument of simultaneously and sequentially actualisable potential infinities in response to Atomism
I am reading a book about Aristotle. Aristotle lays out a potential argument against infinite divisibility by the Atomists, that infinite division would leave components of zero-magnitude which could ...
- 225
-1
votes
1
answer
81
views
Does philosophy, based on Archimedean solids, permit an infinite-face prism projecting a fifth dimension of infinite realities from a third dimension?
To quote the MIT work on the Hypershere: 'Considering that the largest Archimedean solid, the hyper truncated icosahedron, has over 14,000 faces, this object alone could contain within it an entire ...
1
vote
3
answers
211
views
Do I exist under the aspect of eternity?
Do I exist under the aspect of eternity?
The work of art is the object seen sub specie aeternitatis; and the
good life is the world seen sub specie aeternitatis.
Wittgenstein on the unity of ethics ...
user67104
1
vote
3
answers
97
views
How should eternity affect the plausibility of an agent’s existence?
Suppose the concept of God wasn’t eternal. There was some mechanism, perhaps even simpler than God, that gave rise to His existence. Is this more or less plausible than Him eternally existing?
What ...
user62907