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Full Idea
Nothing is actually infinite. A thing is infinite only potentially.
Gist of Idea
Infinity is only potential, never actual
Source
Aristotle (Coming-to-be and Passing-away (Gen/Corr) [c.335 BCE], 318a21)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'The Basic Works of Aristotle', ed/tr. McKeon,Richard [Modern Library Classics 2001], p.480
A Reaction
Aristotle is the famous spokesman for this view, though it reappeared somewhat in early twentieth century discussions (e.g. Hilbert). I sympathise with this unfashionable view. Multiple infinites are good fun, but no one knows what they really are.
13212 | Infinity is only potential, never actual [Aristotle] |
22929 | Aristotle's infinity is a property of the counting process, that it has no natural limit [Aristotle, by Le Poidevin] |
9632 | Kant only accepts potential infinity, not actual infinity [Kant, by Brown,JR] |
15938 | Platonists ruin infinity, which is precisely a growing structure which is never completed [Dummett] |
15940 | The intuitionist endorses only the potential infinite [Lavine] |