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Single Idea 14156

[filed under theme 27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 3. Parts of Time / b. Instants ]

Full Idea

To the mathematician as such there is no relevant distinction between the instants of time and the points on a line.

Gist of Idea

Mathematicians don't distinguish between instants of time and points on a line

Source

Bertrand Russell (The Principles of Mathematics [1903], §387)

Book Ref

Russell,Bertrand: 'Principles of Mathematics' [Routledge 1992], p.403

A Reaction

This is the germ of the modern view of space time, which is dictated by the mathematics, rather than by our intuitions or insights into what is actually going on.

The 5 ideas with the same theme [smallest atoms in the division of time]:

16693 Time has parts, but the now is not one of them, and time is not composed of nows [Aristotle]
22958 Nows can't be linked together, any more than points on a line [Aristotle]
12486 An 'instant' is where we perceive no succession, and is the time of a single idea [Locke]
14156 Mathematicians don't distinguish between instants of time and points on a line [Russell]
16207 Time could be discrete (like integers) or dense (rationals) or continuous (reals) [Hawley]