What is the point of what the tortoise said to Achilles?
The title alludes to one of Zeno’s paradoxes of motion, in which Achilles could never overtake the tortoise in a race. In Carroll’s dialogue, the tortoise challenges Achilles to use the force of logic to make him accept the conclusion of a simple deductive argument.
What is the answer to Zeno’s paradox?
Or, more precisely, the answer is “infinity.” If Achilles had to cover these sorts of distances over the course of the race—in other words, if the tortoise were making progressively larger gaps rather than smaller ones—Achilles would never catch the tortoise.
What did the tortoise say to Achilles Sep?
“Then I shouldn’t be here,” Achilles modestly replied; “and you would have got several times round the world, by this time!” “You flatter me—flatten, I mean” said the Tortoise; “for you are a heavy weight, and no mistake!
Why was the tortoise named Achilles?
According to Greek mythology, when Achilles was born, his mother held him up by his heel and dipped him in the river Styx so that he could live forever. After surviving many battles, Achilles finally died after an arrow struck him on his heel. In this story, the author has named his pet tortoise as Achilles.
What is the paradox of Achilles and the tortoise?
Zeno’s argument rests on the presumption that Achilles must first reach the point where the tortoise started, by which time the tortoise will have moved ahead, even if but a small distance, to another point; by the time Achilles traverses the distance to this latter point, the tortoise will have moved ahead to another.
How many steps did it take the tortoise to get to Achilles?
Achilles then completes his 22nd step, and he is two Achilles-steps ahead of the tortoise starting point. The tortoise will have completed her 22nd tortoise-step from her starting point. Hence the tortoise is now behind Achilles by 18 tortoise-steps.
Who solved Zeno’s paradox?
Plato
As Plato says, when Zeno tries to conclude “that the same thing is many and one, we shall [instead] say that what he is proving is that something is many and one [in different respects], not that unity is many or that plurality is one….” [129d] So, there is no contradiction, and the paradox is solved by Plato.
Why did Zeno create paradoxes?
Zeno’s paradoxes are a set of philosophical problems generally thought to have been devised by Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea (c. 490–430 BC) to support Parmenides’ doctrine that contrary to the evidence of one’s senses, the belief in plurality and change is mistaken, and in particular that motion is nothing but an …
Can time be infinitely divided?
Physical space is often regarded as infinitely divisible: it is thought that any region in space, no matter how small, could be further split. Time is similarly considered as infinitely divisible.
What did Parmenides believe?
Parmenides held that the multiplicity of existing things, their changing forms and motion, are but an appearance of a single eternal reality (“Being”), thus giving rise to the Parmenidean principle that “all is one.” From this concept of Being, he went on to say that all claims of change or of non-Being are illogical.
When did Lewis Carroll come up with the barbershop paradox?
The barbershop paradox was proposed by Lewis Carroll in a three-page essay titled “A Logical Paradox”, which appeared in the July 1894 issue of Mind. The name comes from the “ornamental” short story that Carroll uses to illustrate the paradox (although it had appeared several times in more abstract terms in his writing…
What was Charles dickens’definition of a paradox?
— Charles Dickens, Bleak House, 1852-53 It is a paradox that computers need maintenance so often, since they are meant to save people time. As an actor, he’s a paradox —he loves being in the public eye but also deeply values and protects his privacy. a novel full of paradox
Which is an example of a paradox in a sentence?
Examples of paradox in a Sentence. For the actors, the goal was a paradox: real emotion, produced on cue. — Claudia Roth Pierpont, New Yorker, 27 Oct. 2008 Again and again, he returns in his writing to the paradox of a woman who is superior to the men around her by virtue of social class though considered inferior to them on account of her gender.
What was the paradox in the portrait of a lady?
— Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady, 1881 Mr. Guppy propounds for Mr. Smallweed’s consideration the paradox that the more you drink the thirstier you are and reclines his head upon the window-sill in a state of hopeless languor.