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argumentforbasingthescienceofmotiononaconventiondifferentfromthe
realizedinfinitedivisibilityofacontinuum.
ThiswasAristotle3sinterpretationofZeno3sarrowaporia.
Aristotledoesn3tlikeZenoandneveradmitsthatheisright.Buthisphi-
losophyisamodelofhonestthinkingandofsolidargumentagainsthisown
theses,andalongthelineofownthoughtsheechoesZeno3swords.4Therealized
infinitedivisibilityofacontinuumisforhimanintellectualnecessity.Hewant
tofreehimselffromitbutnotbyfollowingtheaporiaofflyingarrow,which
inhisviewmakesnosense,butbyadirectargument.Hewrites:5
Ifsomeoneassumedthatabodyisacertaineverywheredivisiblecon-
tinuum,hewouldencounteradifficulty.Forifacontinuumisevery-
wheredivisible,thenitcould,intheend,beeverywheredivided.And
ifthis[weredone]whatwouldeventuallybeleft?[Thenthedivided
existence]willeitherbemadeupofpointsanditscomponentswillbe
devoidofcontinuity,oritwillbecompletelyanonexistence,inwhich
inthiscaseitwouldhavearisenfromnothing,andthewholewould
havebeenameresubstanceofsomething.Again,ifitweremadeup
ofpoints,thenitwouldnotbecontinuous,foreventheconjunctionof
all[points]yieldsnocontinuum.
Thesesentencesarenotalwaysclear.ElsewhereinPhysicshepunsitsoc-
cinctly:“thingswithoutmagnitudecannotyieldamagnitude.”
Heconcludesthatastraightlinecannotbemadeupofpoints,thingshe
grantsnomagnitude.Bythesametoken,timecannotbecomposedofmoments.
Butinspiteofthecategoricalconclusionstheargumentsarenotpersuasive.
ItseemsthatAristotlehimselfviewsthemasincomplete,becauseherepeats
themobsessivelyafterinessentialmodifications.Butsometimesheusesagenu-
inelydifferentargument:acontinuumcannotbemadeupofpointsbecausein
acontinuum“apointisnotincontactwithapoint.”6
4AnAlfrédRényi3sphrasefromTriłłogijapomatiematikie[Trilogyonmathematics].
Moskwa1969,p.74.TranslatedbyAbeShenitzer.
5Arystoteles,Opowstawaniuiginięciu[Onorigineanddecline].Warszawa1981,p.9.
TranslatedbyAbeShenitzer.
6Arystoteles,Fizyka,p.177.TranslatedbyAbeShenitzer.
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