Achilles and the Tortoise
The fastest runner alive can never catch a tortoise with a head start. The argument is airtight. So where does it go wrong?
c. 450 BCE15 min read
Eleatic philosophy (Greek, southern Italy)
Parmenides of Elea
515 BCE – 450 BCE
Author of a hexameter poem, substantial parts of which survive, arguing that what-is must be ungenerated, indivisible and unchanging, and that motion and plurality belong to the deceptive "way of opinion". Zeno's paradoxes were written in defence of this position.
2 entries
Zeno's Dichotomy Paradox
To cross a room you must first cross half of it, then half of what is left, and so on without end. So how does anyone move?
c. 450 BCE18 min read