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26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 5. Infinite in Nature

[time or space or matter could be infinite]

14 ideas
The gods alone live forever with Shamash. The days of humans are numbered. [Anon (Gilg)]
Archelaus was the first person to say that the universe is boundless [Archelaus, by Diog. Laertius]
Continuity depends on infinity, because the continuous is infinitely divisible [Aristotle]
The heavens seem to be infinite, because we cannot imagine their end [Aristotle]
There are potential infinities (never running out), but actual infinity is incoherent [Aristotle, by Friend]
Totality has no edge; an edge implies a contrast beyond the edge, and there can't be one [Epicurus]
Bodies are unlimited as well as void, since the two necessarily go together [Epicurus]
Unlike Epicurus, Stoics distinguish the Whole from the All, with the latter including the void [Stoic school, by Sext.Empiricus]
There can be no centre in infinity [Lucretius]
The universe must be limitless, since there could be nothing outside to limit it [Lucretius]
An infinite line can be marked in feet or inches, so one infinity is twelve times the other [Spinoza]
If there were infinite electrons, they could vanish without affecting total mass-energy [Heil]
Given atomism at one end, and a finite universe at the other, there are no physical infinities [Brown,JR]
There are probably no infinities, and 'infinite' names what we do not yet know [Rovelli]