Single Idea 14032

[catalogued under 26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 5. Infinite in Nature]

Full Idea

The totality is unlimited. For what is limited has an extreme; but an extreme is seen in contrast to something else, so that since it has no extreme it has no limit.

Gist of Idea

Totality has no edge; an edge implies a contrast beyond the edge, and there can't be one

Source

Epicurus (Letter to Herodotus [c.293 BCE], 41)

Book Reference

Epicurus: 'The Epicurus Reader', ed/tr. Inwood,B. /Gerson,L. [Hackett 1994], p.7


A Reaction

I presume that the 'limit' is the edge, and the 'extreme' is what is beyond the edge. Why could not the extreme be nothingness, which then contrast dramatically with what exists?

Related Idea

Idea 14033 Bodies are unlimited as well as void, since the two necessarily go together [Epicurus]