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Single Idea 9635

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

Full Idea

There seem to be no actual infinites in the physical realm. Given the correctness of atomism, there are no infinitely small things, no infinite divisibility. And General Relativity says that the universe is only finitely large.

Gist of Idea

Given atomism at one end, and a finite universe at the other, there are no physical infinities

Source

James Robert Brown (Philosophy of Mathematics [1999], Ch. 5)

Book Ref

Brown,James Robert: 'Philosophy of Mathematics' [Routledge 2002], p.66

A Reaction

If time was infinite, you could travel round in a circle forever. An atom has size, so it has a left, middle and right to it. Etc. They seem to be physical, so we will count those too.

The 14 ideas with the same theme [time or space or matter could be infinite]:

8659 The gods alone live forever with Shamash. The days of humans are numbered. [Anon (Gilg)]
1748 Archelaus was the first person to say that the universe is boundless [Archelaus, by Diog. Laertius]
5093 Continuity depends on infinity, because the continuous is infinitely divisible [Aristotle]
5095 The heavens seem to be infinite, because we cannot imagine their end [Aristotle]
8660 There are potential infinities (never running out), but actual infinity is incoherent [Aristotle, by Friend]
14032 Totality has no edge; an edge implies a contrast beyond the edge, and there can't be one [Epicurus]
14033 Bodies are unlimited as well as void, since the two necessarily go together [Epicurus]
22743 Unlike Epicurus, Stoics distinguish the Whole from the All, with the latter including the void [Stoic school, by Sext.Empiricus]
5704 There can be no centre in infinity [Lucretius]
5703 The universe must be limitless, since there could be nothing outside to limit it [Lucretius]
4821 An infinite line can be marked in feet or inches, so one infinity is twelve times the other [Spinoza]
18519 If there were infinite electrons, they could vanish without affecting total mass-energy [Heil]
9635 Given atomism at one end, and a finite universe at the other, there are no physical infinities [Brown,JR]
20469 There are probably no infinities, and 'infinite' names what we do not yet know [Rovelli]