Traversing the Infinite and Proving the Existence of God

• Authors: Miłosz Pawłowski
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The aim of this paper is to present a proof to the conclusion that is impossible to traverse an infinite series (in particular, an infinite series of past moments). This may also show (given additional assumptions) that the series of past moments cannot be infinite. In the first section I formulate five theses concerning traversing, successive addition and successive subtraction and I present the idea of the argument: if it were possible to traverse an infinite past, it should be in principle possible to go back, which is, however, impossible. The main body of the paper is concerned with working out a simple mathematical representation of some structural features of processes like traversing and successive addition. I also make a crucial distinction between completion of a process at a particular time and its timeless “completion” in infinite time. In section V, I present the formal proof and defend it against a possible objection of question-begging. Finally, I suggest that my argument can contribute to constructing arguments for God's existence, and to solving the problem of the asymmetry of our attitudes towards death and prenatal non-existence.

Keywords

EN

Infinite Series (Mathematics); Infinite; God Proof; Death

• Publisher: Akademia Ignatianum w Krakowie
• Journal: Forum Philosophicum
• Year: 2007
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 17-31

Contributors

author

Miłosz Pawłowski

• Central European University, Budapest, Hungary

References

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Identifiers

DOI

10.5840/forphil200712120

URI

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=25743289&lang=pl&site=ehost-live

URI

http://www.pdcnet.org/pdc/bvdb.nsf/purchase?openform&fp=forphil&id=forphil_2007_0012_0001_0017_0031