Space.
If there is such a thing as space, it will be in something, for all being is in
something, and that which is in something is in some space. So this space will be in a
space, and so on ad infinitum. Accordingly, there is no such thing as space.
Motion.
The Arrow in Flight
If, Zeno says, everything is at rest when it is in a space equal to itself, and the
moving body is always in the present moment in a space equal to itself, then the moving
arrow is still. Therefore the arrow in flight is stationary.
The Race Course
Motion does not exist because the moving body must go half the distance before it goes
the whole distance.
Achilles and the Tortoise
The slow runner will never be overtaken by the swiftest, for it is necessary that the
pursuer should first reach the point from which the pursued started, so that necessarily
the slower is always somewhat in advance. This argument is the same as the preceding, the
only difference being that the distance is not divided each time into halves.
The Stadium
With reference to equal bodies moving in opposite directions past equal bodies in the
stadium with equal speed, some form the end of the stadium, others from the middle, Zeno
thinks half the time equal to twice the time.
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© Paul Halsall, Janaury 1999
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