Questions tagged [infinity]
Use for questions about the properties, nature, or definition of infinitude.
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Is infinite regress of causation possible? Is infinite regress of causation necessary?
For a number of reasons — including perhaps a desire to feel that we have a complete understanding of where we came from, or at least an understanding which is completely sufficient for all of ...
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Do all epistemologies suffer from the "regress of justifications" problem?
Aristotle describes the regress problem in his logical work Posterior Analytics I.2:
b5. Some hold that, owing to the necessity of knowing the primary premisses, there is no scientific knowledge. ...
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How does actual infinity (of numbers or space) work?
Is infinity just continuous generation of numbers, or can space be actually infinite? If it is finite can we see it expand if we went to the edge?
When I say "I am counting to infinity" does it mean ...
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Is there an alternative to Cantor's cardinalities that makes proper subsets smaller than their sets?
Cantor defined an infinite set as a set whose subset can be placed in a one-to-one correspondence with its subset. That is, take the set of all natural numbers: {0, 1, 2, 3, 4,...}. From that set, you ...
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If we live in a simulated world, doesn't there have to be a first world that's real?
There are people who believe we live in a world, simulated on a computer. That computer must have been built in either another computer-generated world or a real world (by which I mean a non-simulated ...
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What was Cantor's philosophical reason for accepting the infinite but rejecting the infinitesimal?
I have begun inquiring recently into mathematical aspects of Georg Cantor's theory of transfinite numbers and sets, which he developed between the years of 1874 and 1897. Throughout his theory, Cantor ...
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Does the impossibility of an infinite regress prove God exists?
I'm strictly discussing one aspect of God: God as the First Cause. I am excluding all other qualities of God defined by any religion or belief system -- including the notion of God as a sentient being....
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Cantor and infinities
I know we have accepted Cantor's ideas a long time ago and many mathematicians use sets and infinities without ever realizing that thinking about sets and infinities intuitively fails, because there ...
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Would it be logically possible that the Universe has a beginning in time but an infinite amount of time has elapsed since this beginning?
Imagine that the Universe had a temporal beginning but no temporal end. At the beginning the Universe has a finite size, and as time passes its size increases exponentially. And the number of ...
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Problem with infinity? [closed]
Note: See PART 2 for a better question.
1 kg of matter has infinite number of parts. Infinite number of things together can make an infinite amount of matter. 1 kg is not equal to infinite amount. We ...
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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) ...
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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 ...
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Are infinities in physics (or in any other materalist philosophy) actually possible?
Aristotle made a distinction between infinities that were in potential (dunamis) and in actuality (energia); and stated that actual infinities did not obtain in the physical world. This is the basis ...
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Are infinitesimals in the Newton and Leibniz calculus potential or actual?
Was reading a bit about history of calculus and its philosophy and stumbled into source of confusion: were infinitesimals in seventeenth century calculus assumed to be actual or potential? Was there ...
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Is a distinction between actual and potential infinity philosophically significant?
I could use a little exposition on the significance of the distinction. I'm aware that potential infinities have arbitrarily large numbers, whilst actual infinities refer to the number "infinity" ...
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