Zeno's Paradoxes

A reprint of the Bobbs-Merrill edition of 1970. These essays lead the reader through the land of the wonderful shrinking genie to the warehouse where the infinity machines are kept. By careful examination of a lamp that is switched on and off infinitely many times, or the workings of a machine that prints out an infinite decimal expansion of pi, we begin to understand how it is possible for Achilles to overtake the tortoise. The concepts that form the basis of modern science—-space, time, motion, change, infinity-—are examined and explored in this edition. Includes an updated bibliography. Resolution Of The Paradox / Abner Shimony -- Introduction / Wesley C. Salmon -- The Problem On Infinity Considered Historically / Bertrand Russell -- The Cinematographic View Of Becoming / Henri Bergson -- Achilles And The Tortoise / Max Black -- Achilles On A Physical Racecourse / J.o. Wisdom -- Tasks And Super-tasks / James Thomson -- Tasks, Super-tasks, And The Modern Eleatics / Paul Benacerraf -- Comments On Professor Benacerraf's Paper / James Thomson -- Zeno And The Mathematicians / G.e.l. Owen -- Modern Science And The Refutation Of The Paradoxes Of Zeno / Adolf Grunbaum -- Zeno's Metrical Paradox Of Extension / Adolf Grunbaum -- Modern Science And Zeno's Paradoxes Of Motion / Adolf Grunbaum -- Sets And Infinity / Wesley C. Salmon. Edited By Wesley C. Salmon. Originally Published: Indianapolis : Bobbs-merrill, [1970]. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 269-290) And Index. A dozen essays published between 1929 and 1970, when the Bobbs-Merrill edition appeared, explore modern interpretations and applications of some enduring puzzles set in the Western world by the Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea in the fifth century BC. They deal with concepts that form the basis of modern science, such as space, time, motion, change, and infinity. The reprint has a new preface and an updated bibliography. c. Book News Inc