In The
Physics Aristotle proposed an answer to Zeno by saying that Space is not
an actual infinity, as suggested by The Stadium paradox. Aristotle suggests
that space is a potential infinity only. For example, a line does not consist
of an actual infinity of points, because it is a continuum, with only the potential
for infinite division - a potential which can never be fully realised. The same
argument can be applied to Time, which can also be regarded as a potential infinity
only. Though Time can be added to without limit, it cannot exist as an infinite
because no two "Nows" can exist simultaneously. In other words, time is a continuum
with a determined order. In neither case can a real infinity be made actual.
The infinity in question always remains potential, but can never come into existence.
Although this is an
impressive attempt to subvert Zeno's logic, I would point out that "Potential"
is in the eye of the beholder. What I mean is, "Potential" is not an actual
property of the object, it is a mental abstraction, derived through inductive
logic. We only know of an object's potential byway of our experiences of bygone
objects. It is precisely this sort of argument, using a logical
fiction, that leads us to confuse the
ontological status of contingent,
mental conceptions based upon induction. All the same, it is an arresting
argument, appearing to prove that the very definition of "Infinite" makes
its existence impossible. Zeno might ask, though, how something can have the
potential to be something it can never possibly be.