Skip to content
Carmelics
TopicsThinkersChangesContributorsLoading account…

    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

    Navigate

    • Topics
    • Search
    • Recent Changes
    • Contribute
    • How It Works
    • Glossary
    • Thinkers
    • Contributors
    • About
    • Statistics
    • Terms
    • Privacy

    Database

    Statements
    —
    Perspectives
    —
    Topics
    —

    Press ? for keyboard shortcuts

    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Postulating a smallest magnitude does not resolve Zeno's ... — Carmelics
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Modality & Possibility
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Postulating a smallest magnitude does not resolve Zeno's dichotomy paradox but instead generates a new motion paradox

    CausationModality & Possibility
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    2 reasons for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.If motion requires traversing discrete minimal units, then at any instant a body occupies exactly one minimal space, making motion a series of discontinuous jumps.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Discontinuous jumps between minimal spaces entail temporal gaps where the body exists at neither location, generating a new paradox of existence between positions.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Aristotle's Physics (231a-b) establishes that discrete indivisibles cannot compose continuous motion, so atomism replaces one paradox of infinite division with one of discrete leaping.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Diodorus Cronus's Master Argument commits him to only actual present states being genuinely real, which constrains how transition between atomic positions can be described.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If the passage between two minimal magnitudes is neither divisible nor occupiable, then the minimal-magnitude hypothesis cannot coherently assign any modal status to the transitional state.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.A theory that cannot assign determinate possibility or impossibility to transitional states fails to resolve Zeno's paradox and instead relocates unintelligibility from infinite division to inter-atomic gaps.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.A minimal partless body cannot transition between adjacent minimal spaces without being partly in and partly out of its original space
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.A partless body cannot be partly in anything
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Therefore motion of minimal bodies is impossible under the smallest-magnitude hypothesis
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Sign in or register to share your perspective on this statement.

    Next step

    Based on where you are in your exploration

    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.

    Topics

    Modality & PossibilityCausation

    Related

    A minimal partless body cannot transition between adjacent minimal spaces withou...A partless body cannot be partly in anythingA theory that cannot assign determinate possibility or impossibility to transiti...Aristotle's Physics (231a-b) establishes that discrete indivisibles cannot compo...
    +5 moreShow less
    Diodorus Cronus's Master Argument commits him to only actual present states bein...Discontinuous jumps between minimal spaces entail temporal gaps where the body e...If motion requires traversing discrete minimal units, then at any instant a body...If the passage between two minimal magnitudes is neither divisible nor occupiabl...Therefore motion of minimal bodies is impossible under the smallest-magnitude hy...

    Similar

    Therefore motion of minimal bodies is impossible under the smallest-ma...80%Zeno's paradox demonstrates the impossibility of motion in an extended...76%Motions entail contradictions (as shown by the Moving Blocks paradox)72%Simple Type Theory (STT) gives rise to Russell's Appendix B paradox wh...72%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: diodorus-cronus
    View source passageHide passage
    Certainly some of those puzzled by Zeno’s dichotomy argument against motion (see Zeno of Elea 2.2.1) had sought to resolve the puzzlement by postulating a smallest magnitude. That solution, although rejected by Aristotle, was defended by his contemporary Xenocrates, a leading Platonist. Diodorus, a generation later, can be seen taking up this supposed solution to the Zenonian paradox and showing that it itself in fact generates a new motion paradox, the first of his four. (1) A minimal and partl
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (2 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit