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DB 12 What is Infinite?
DB 12 What is Infinite?
Directions:
- Be sure you read the “Cosmological Arguments” in Ultimate Questionsbefore posting this discussion.
- Go to the interactive Java Tutorial website “Molecular Expressions”: http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/(Links to an external site.)
- There is a program titled “Secret Worlds: The Universe Within” (also referred to as “Powers of 10”).
- You may click on “Auto” for the program to run or “Manual” for you to initiate the “decrease” or “increase” functions yourself.
- Discuss the philosophical significance of this web tutorialand how it might relate to our reading in Aquinas (This internet reading in our weekly documents was only recommended however you can get a synopsis of his cosmological argument in Ultimate Questions)
Consider these questions if you are unsure how to start:
- Can this process go on forever?
- In our reading, Aquinas argues in his 1stProof that “this regress ought not to be endless” (Ultimate Questions says similarly “an actual existing infinite series [may be] an incoherent idea” p. 183).
- Do you think this website supports this assertion? Why or why not?
- Another related question you might consider is this: Can space and material objects “go on forever”? Is space infinite? Why or why not?
Technical Difficulties?: If you are having problems running the Java tutorial, try the troubleshooting page on http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/virtual/magnifying/help.html (Links to an external site.) You may need the java software available for free download at http://java.sun.com/products/javawebstart/index.jsp (Links to an external site.) If you still have problems then you might try a campus computer.
Optional (Or as an alternative to the above website): Consider the ending of Men in Black (occasionally posted on youtube.com). Do you think the process shown there of a world within a world could possibly go on forever? Does the apparent absurdity of endless space have any ramifications for Aquinas’ argument that endless time is absurd?