Questions tagged [infinity]
The infinity tag has no usage guidance.
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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 ...
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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?
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Can a totally ordered set with a last element but no first element exist, or is this contradictory?
Can a totally ordered set with a last element but no first element exist, or is this contradictory? An example of such a set would be a set that is ordered from largest to smallest, with there being ...
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Is there a way to confirm something material is infinite?
Mathematics is full of immaterial examples of infinities. However, is it possible to confirm or prove something material is infinite? Or, can we only conjecture they are?
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If Something Exists Does Everything Exist?
Has anyone argued this? I haven't formulated a coherent argument so I'm just throwing this out there to see if anyone has thought about this already. Intuitively I think it makes sense that everything ...
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Do intuitionists and predicativists have an overly "absolute" concept of infinity?
Sifting through the historical data, I get the impression that intuitionism is not strictly a case of finitism (much less ultrafinitism), but more like "parafinitism". Predicativism, in turn,...
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Finite and infinite temporal duration
I am trying to wrap my head around different philosophical concepts of 'forever'. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there to be three versions of 'forever' in terms of temporal duration:
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How does this theory about infinity compare with known results in "infinity theory"?
I had a conversation about infinity with my friend yesterday and what I left with was a theory about infinity.
HERE goes.
I believe that there are different quantities of infinity because if you have ...
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I have a premise about infinite timeline, how is it?
I think that in an infinite timeline without a start, if such a timeline could exist, the only way things could work is like this:
The only things that can happen are those that already happened an ...
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Applying logic to the question of whether all of existence is infinite or not
Here, I use to exist as generally as possible; if it is an object, it exists; if it is conceivable, it exists; if it is anything, it exists; even the properties and relations themselves exist. ...
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Can an infinite process be discontinuous? [closed]
The question is probably very, very easily answered with basic mathematical facts about infinity. Does it have any bearing on philosophy, what the answer is?
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Is "infinity" simply an accident of brains/turing machines?
As far as I know, no actual "infinity" exists in the universe. For example, the age of the observable universe is thought to be 10 - 15 billion years, while its size seems to be about 93 ...
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Is infinity an imperfect and unsubstantial epiphenomenon of the finite?
To my mind the concepts of the finite and the infinite are equally mysterious.
But recently I was surprised to encounter the view that infinity may be something different from what I have ...
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Can a backwards infinite regress account for its own existence?
Suppose we have a domain of discourse D with an infinite collection of elements, and suppose that it is the case that the existence of each element x is dependent upon another element y (or collection ...
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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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Who came up with the traversing an infinity model of a guy eternally walking on tiles that appear and vanish behind him
I had a debate last year where I got my idea from a scholarly source that I didn't cite at the time. I'm looking to find it again.
As a rebuttal to the idea that an infinity cannot be traversed, this ...
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Can two things or x number of things that are not infinite create infinity?
Can two things or x number of things that are not infinite create infinity? Let's assume that x is not infinity. I am thinking that it's not the case, and there's no paradox here, but I just want to ...
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Is there an alternative to infinity?
We can say that a discrete set with 1 and 2 allows us to count just from 1 to 2 but a sequential set with 1 and 2 allows us to count from 1 to 2 in an infinite way (1.1, 1.2, 1.3 ...) but no man can ...
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If the universe is finite does that nullify Godel's incompleteness, halting problem, and Church-Turing thesis?
I'm not well versed on these topics but they all seem to rely on infinity, mainly infinite recursion or infinite space of mathematics.
If there is no always "next" algorithm, the halting ...
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What is the difference between infinity and endlessness?
Rudy Rucker, author of the book Infinity and the Mind, writes this:
To understand how something can be endless but not infinite, think of a circle. A fly can walk around and around the rim of a glass ...
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If something can’t come from nothing, then has an infinite period of time already passed?
Assuming that something really can’t come from nothing (I know it’s controversial but if it’s true)...
Then at any given point in time (t), something exists and therefore something also existed at t-1....
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Is there such a thing as ωth-order infinitary logic?
I've seen references to ωth-order logic sprinkled (sparsely) throughout my studies, though what properties this has compared to and contrasted with nth-order logics I wouldn't be able to tell you (I'm ...
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Does size become fictional in an infinite universe?
Currently, we don't know if we live in an infinite or finite universe. But let's say, for the sake of argument, that we do live in an infinite universe. So that if we would have a space ship with an ...
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Where does Schelling discuss the "bad" or spurious infinity?
I read in my Hegel Dictionary that Schelling also discusses a version of the "bad infinity" and gives as an example the repayment of debt by issuing more debt at the Bank of England.
I just ...
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What is the difference between Zeno's "Dichotomy" and Richardson's "Coast of England" paradox?
We assume, though I believe it can be debated, that Zeno's "Dichotomy" paradox is apparently "unreal." We can treat any given distance as the sum of an infinite regress of smaller ...
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Why is mathematical induction so applicable in mathematics?
Mathematical induction is a way to give finite proofs for (some of the) claims that concern infinitely many objects. For this reason it can be thought of as an approximation of the ω-rule. However, ...
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Does science require the exclusion of the "infinite"?
And if so, are there any interesting implications? According to the storyline, Galileo launched modern science by declaring the necessity of rendering physical events countable. What is countable must ...
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Did Augustine try to prove God's existence using Set Theory?
Some time ago I heard a professor of mine describe Augustine's Confessions as an attempt to prove God's existence using set theory. I didn't get a chance to ask him more of what he meant, and ...
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Is infinity really infinite if we can encode it in a finite number of bits?
I'm asking this question because in some programming languages there is an object defining "infinity", which behaves as the mathematical infinity (e.g. it is indefinite if you multiply it by ...
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The concept of infinite past [closed]
Is it possible to give an a priori answer to whether or not an infinite past is possible?
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Is it possible to flip a coin an infinite number of times and never land on tails?
If I would flip a coin an infinite number of times would it be possible to never land on tails? In other words if there's an infinite number of chances of something happening is it still possible for ...
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Is it possible philosophically that the entire cosmic void with one or more universe/s inside it will stop exist eternally?
As a conscious agent who suddenly appeared in this cosmic void as a child to my parents and got a consistent memory since about the age of 3;
With time I have learned of the question "why is there ...
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Does human conciousness "prove" that God exists?
I'm aware this question assumes our universe isn't an infinite regression.
The logic is as follows:
A is the source of everything. B exists. B came from A. Therefore B is an attribute of A.
A being ...
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Stack vs. Queue Brainteaser [closed]
So I have a thought in my head I was wondering if anyone could offer wisdom on, and excuse me if this is a silly question or is not philosophical in nature. The question is basically this:
Let's ...
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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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Is this general argument against immortality valid?
I found the following argument here (although the paper is about a different topic):
A General Argument Against Immortality:
The method of Theory Confirmation can be applied to the question of ...
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Do questions of Infinite regress, uncased cause and nothingness just point to our limits?
A lot of debates and conversations with theists seem to end up with the "ultimate" questions where the questions themselves seem to me to be conceptual/linguistic/psychological dead ends.
Infinite ...
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Theology of set theory
Absolute space and time are said to emanate from Aristotle. The Church acted as custodian of these concepts from early on up to recent times.
I am thinking about another issue, namely that of ...
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Can the Universe Be Infinite?
Some think that the universe is infinite. To convince one in the creditability of the idea they point mainly at our inability to conceive of its spatial limits. Hence, here, I use 'infinity' (of the ...
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Infinite past with a beginning?
I can conceive of an infinite past with a beginning. I can in fact represent this idea by a simple diagram, part analogical, part symbolic. So, to me, this idea is a logical possibility.
I initially ...
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Perpetual Division
I recall a story about a philosopher who proposed an idea that everything is essentially perpetually divisible. That is to say, you can divide a whole into two halves and for each half (regarded as ...
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