Do simple infinitesimal parts solve Zeno’s paradox of measure?

Synthese 198 (5):4441-4456 (2019)
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Abstract

In this paper, I develop an original view of the structure of space—called infinitesimal atomism—as a reply to Zeno’s paradox of measure. According to this view, space is composed of ultimate parts with infinitesimal size, where infinitesimals are understood within the framework of Robinson’s nonstandard analysis. Notably, this view satisfies a version of additivity: for every region that has a size, its size is the sum of the sizes of its disjoint parts. In particular, the size of a finite region is the sum of the sizes of its infinitesimal parts. Although this view is a coherent approach to Zeno’s paradox and is preferable to Skyrms’s infinitesimal approach, it faces both the main problem for the standard view and the main problem for finite atomism, leaving it with no clear advantage over these familiar alternatives.

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Lu Chen
University of Southern California

Citations of this work

Infinitesimal Gunk.Lu Chen - 2020 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 49 (5):981-1004.
Smooth Infinitesimals in the Metaphysical Foundation of Spacetime Theories.Lu Chen - 2022 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 51 (4):857-877.

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References found in this work

Non-standard Analysis.Gert Heinz Müller - 2016 - Princeton University Press.
Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science.Hermann Weyl - 1949 - Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Edited by Olaf Helmer-Hirschberg & Frank Wilczek.
Parts of Classes.David K. Lewis - 1991 - Mind 100 (3):394-397.

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