Zeno of Elea
Zeno of Elea was a Pre-Socratic Philosopher during the 5th century BC. Distinguished as being a student of Parmenides, he based many of his ideas around his mentor. Zeno held the belief like his mentor that everything exists fixed. Everything in life can be explained by the idea of an already set implemented purpose. Zeno argued that the objects that occupy this world are never in motion. That anything in “motion” is only an illusion and could never have begun motion. He accomplished this by using his profound paradoxes. His paradoxes against motion include: the flying arrow, Achilles and the Tortoise, and the Dichotomy Paradox. These are only a few of the surviving ideas that Zeno had. If Zeno’s work had been around today who knows what other mystery’s he may have purposed.
The Flying Arrow is a statement against an arrow moving as it is flying through the air. Zeno says that in order for motion to happen, an entity would need to modify its position. He uses an arrow in flight as an illustration. Zeno says that the arrow can’t move to where it is not because time is not elapsing to accomplish said task. He also states that the arrow cannot move to where it is because the arrow can’t occupy the space it is already in. Thus he argues that an arrow is motionless. In other words if you took pictures of an arrow flying in each individual picture the arrow would appear to not move it is only when you put the pictures together does the arrow appear to move. This paradox set by Zeno argues that motion that occurs through space are points. Each instant is just another point of space, or another picture.
Achilles and the tortoise is another paradox stated by Zeno. Zeno starts out by stating that Achilles is in a race with a...
... middle of paper ...
... your destination gets closer (divided in half) the time interval to get to said destination gets shorter. Ever decresing periods of time can be thought of as the same as with the Achilles paradox. Once again we can pull the converging infinite series and make a finite point in which the journey begins. Once we begin the journey the rest is cake.
Zeno was quite the philosophical quiz master. He baffled many of the greatest philosophers like Aristotle with his brainteasers and paradoxes. Zeno accomplished what he set out to do during his time. If Zeno had the information available today about space and time possibilities of making more complex and baffling paradoxes could have been a reality. Unfortunately for Zeno, he is not alive today to see how his paradoxes lasted or to offer refutes and possible answers to answers made by todays scientists and great thinkers.
According to the notes from class, true paradox is defined as two ideas or principles that seem irreconcilable with each other, but prove on closer scrutiny, simultaneously valid. The theory of paradox is recommended to address and remove the ineffectiveness of opposing viewpoints. The benefit of the theory of paradox is that it seeks to recognize and value all perspectives. It also encourages using the effective aspects of all perspectives.
In Walter Mosley’s Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, the reader is introduced to Socrates Fortlow, an ex-convict who served twenty-seven years for murder and rape. Fortlow is plagued by guilt and, seeing the chaos in his town, feels a need to improve not only his own standards of living, but also those of others in Watts. He attempts this by teaching the people in Watts the lessons he feels will resolve the many challenges the neighbourhood faces. The lessons Fortlow teaches and the methods by which he teaches them are very similar to those of the ancient Greek philosopher for whom Fortlow was named: “‘We was poor and country. My mother couldn’t afford school so she figured that if she named me after somebody smart then maybe I’d get smart’” (Mosley, 44). Though the ancient Greek was born to be a philosopher and Fortlow assumed the philosopher role as a response to the poor state of his life and Watts, both resulted in the same required instruction to their populations. The two Socrates’ both utilize a form of teaching that requires their pupil to become engaged in the lesson. They emphasize ethics, logic, and knowledge in their instruction, and place importance on epistemology and definitions because they feel a problem cannot be solved if one does not first know what it is. Socrates was essential in first introducing these concepts to the world and seemed to be born with them inherent to his being, Fortlow has learned the ideals through life experience and is a real-world application in an area that needs the teachings to get on track. While the two men bear many similarities, their differences they are attributed primarily as a result of their circumstances provide the basis of Fortlow’s importance in Watts and as a modern-...
Right after Socrates comments how they can both look for virtue, Meno gives him these questions: “How will you look for it, Socrates, when you do not know at all what it is? How will you aim to search for something you do not know at all? If you should meet with it, how will you know that this is the thing you did not know (80d)?” This is Meno’s paradox which explains the discovery of knowledge is impossible and if you do not know what you are learning, and that you cannot discover it either. Meno states in his first premise that you either know what knowledge is or you don’t, and whether you do know it or not, you cannot discover what that piece of knowledge is. This,
Zeno of Citium founded the philosophy of Stoicism around 300 BCE. His school met informally at the Painted Stoa, a covered colonnade on the northern edge of the Athenian Agora (Sellars, 1). Zeno was the son of a merchant from Citium in Cyprus, but his environment was heavily influenced by the Greeks. Although there is no way of knowing exactly what sparked his interest in philosophy, it is believed that his father brought home many Socratic books from his travels to Athens (Sandbach, 20). Zeno finally journeyed to Athens, most likely inspired by his readings, when he was 22 years old. While in Athens, Zeno was exposed to many different ways of thinking, but he was most affected by the Cynic outlook (Sandbach, 20). Second-hand accounts and late stoic writings tell the story of how Zeno came across the Cynics. He was said to have been reading a Socratic book in a bookstall that prompted him to ask the bookse...
... the event beyond what seems logically feasible. Disorder will grow from order, and more disorder from that. What is a cat other than energy arranged in a specific order? Should that order not be able to rearrange itself into some other form? Objectively observing is a paradox in itself because by observing something, it is already changed from its natural state. Paralleled realities may or may not exist, but it really makes you think about how much it really matters whether you take a deep breath or a shallow one. And, maybe, someday the Cheshire Cat of Wonderland will be more than a mere fantasy.
from Motion, tries to prove the existence of God as the first mover which is unmoved.
It is thought that Meno's paradox is of critical importance both within Plato's thought and within the whole history of ideas. It's major importance is that for the first time on record, the possibility of achieving knowledge from the mind's own resources rather than from experience is articulated, demonstrated and seen as raising important philosophical questions.
Despite the detail and thought that went into both Pereboom and Kanes’ work, the debate of free will is nowhere near being settled. Regardless, it is the possible ideas and theories such as these that allow us to explore and understand the concepts that make up our universe.
...e ultimate cause of everything? While its minor problems are resolved quite easily, Aristotle’s argument for the unmoved mover is predicated on a premise of unknown stability: philosophy. At the heart of the issue is the very nature of philosophy itself and its ability to tackle questions of any magnitude. If everything is knowable, and philosophy is the path to knowledge, then everything must be knowable through philosophy, yet the ad infinitum paradox Aristotle faces is one that shows that the weakest part of his argument is the fact it relies on the abovementioned characteristics of philosophy. If any one of those is wrong, his proof crumbles and the timeless God in which he believes goes along with it, but if they are all right, then there is one God, immovable and actuality, for as Aristotle says, “The rule of many is not good; let there be one ruler” (1076a).
It has puzzled many philosophers throughout the ages. Socrates’s theory of recollection attempts to solve the paradox. The theory does answer the paradox in a way. However, theory itself has many problems including its circular nature and its purpose. The goal is to give Meno the instruction of how to enquire virtue when nobody knows what virtue is. The theory only says that Meno may be able to learn about virtue because his soul is immortal. He will be fine as long as he is engaging in the process of recollection. The paradox’s problem still remains
The universe, all existing matter and space considered as a whole; the cosmos. Credited to be 10 billion light years in diameter, the universe holds the key to life’s greatest enigmas. Popularized by H.G. Wells’ 1895 story The Time Machine, time travel has been a popular concept for science fiction literature, but can traveling through hyperspace actually be feasible method of traveling in the near future. “Einstein’s general theory of relativity allows for the possibility … [to] go off in a rocket and return before you set off,” professed by the world renowned cosmologist Stephen Hawking. Throughout centuries of research many scientist, mathematicians, and physicist alike believe time travel can be possible through things such as cosmic strings
Timing has always enthralled artists and scientists and they have come up with different theories, perspective and conclusions about time and space. However, one thing remains true about timing is that we all are affected by it and cannot control it. Time does not work according to us; we have to work according to time. According to Einstein, timing and spacing are different features of the same thing and many other physicists have said that an object can move back and forth in space but nothing can move back in time.- Sito, T (2009).
The largest difference between expressed solutions to the temporal paradox is in what degree they assume deterministic behavior of the time line. The time line protection hypothesis(2) is a rigidly deterministic solution to the temporal paradox, one that hypothesizes that any action that can cause a paradox will ultimately fail, due to some unforeseen twist of fate. This paradox assumes that all time travel to the past is (or will) become part of t...
Now the author is trying to persuade himself with his presumption that they would end the same and maybe both of them is traveled by the same amount of people. However, he contradicted himself in the next line by saying that the leaves on the empty road haven¡¯t been stepped by anybody yet. Again this is a spiritual and mental process behind the scene of physical journey.
Zeno of Elea was the next person who attempted to prove irrational numbers by challenging the Pythagorean mathematics as well. He lived from 490BC to 430BC. Zeno had influence from Socrate...