Zeno's Paradoxes / Edition 1

by Wesley C. Salmon

Overview

A reprint of the Bobbs-Merrill edition of 1970.

These essays lead the reader through the land of the wonderful shrinking genie to the warehouse where the infinity machines are kept. By careful examination of a lamp that is switched on and off infinitely many times, or the workings of a machine that prints out an infinite decimal expansion of pi, we begin to understand how it is possible for Achilles to overtake the tortoise. The concepts that form the basis of modern science—-space, time, motion, change, infinity-—are examined and explored in this edition. Includes an updated bibliography.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780872205604
Publisher:	Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
Publication date:	03/01/2001
Edition description:	REPRINT
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Wesley C. Salmon is University Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, University of Pittsburgh.

Table of Contents

	Resolution of the Paradox	7
	Introduction	5
	The Problem of Infinity Considered Historically	45
	The Cinematographic View of Becoming	59
	Achilles and the Tortoise	67
	Achilles on a Physical Racecourse	82
	Tasks and Super-Tasks	89
	Tasks, Super-Tasks, and the Modern Eleatics	103
	Comments on Professor Benacerraf's Paper	130
	Zeno and the Mathematicians	139
	Modern Science and Refutation of the Paradoxes of Zeno	164
	Zeno's Metrical Paradox of Extension	176
	Modern Science and Zeno's Paradoxes of Motion	200
Appendix	Sets and Infinity	251
	Bibliography	269
	Index	291

Editorial Reviews

A dozen essays published between 1929 and 1970, when the Bobbs-Merrill edition appeared, explore modern interpretations and applications of some enduring puzzles set in the Western world by the Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea in the fifth century BC. They deal with concepts that form the basis of modern science, such as space, time, motion, change, and infinity. The reprint has a new preface and an updated bibliography. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews