Single Idea 18833

[catalogued under 6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 5. The Infinite / j. Infinite divisibility]

Full Idea

No continuum can be composed of indivisibles: e.g. a line cannot be composed of points, the line being continuous and the points indivisibles.

Clarification

An 'indivisible' is an 'atom'

Gist of Idea

A continuous line cannot be composed of indivisible points

Source

Aristotle (Physics [c.337 BCE], 231a23), quoted by Ian Rumfitt - The Boundary Stones of Thought 7.4

Book Reference

Rumfitt,Ian: 'The Boundary Stones of Thought' [OUP 2015], p.210


A Reaction

Rumfitt observes that ' the basic problem is to say what the ultimate parts of a continuum are, of they are not points'. Early modern philosophers had lots of proposals.