From: EWyatt794@aol.com
Date: Sat Mar 27 1999 - 19:36:19 MST
Can there be an infinite space? Can there be an infinite time? Can there *be*
an infinite anything? I lean toward no. (Despite my utter lack of scientific
credentials)
To exist is to have a particular identity (This has been put as "Existence is
Identity"). So, to have identity is to be a *particular* thing. And to be a
*particular* thing is also to not be anything else. So, to be is to be
something and not anything else.
The trouble comes in when we discuss all things (the universe). The question
is "What isn't it?". Its fairly easy (in my view) to say that it *is*
everything. But to be is to be something and also to not be anything else. So,
what isn't it?
A conceptual distinction would be "It isn't what isn't", but that is just a
boring tautology and doesn't help too much. But, if we try a little
rephrasing, you could say "It is everything" and switch it to "It isn't
nothing." So, as I posted before, as nothing doesn't actually exist (nothing
isn't a type of thing, it is "no-thing"), we can say that nothing exists
outside the universe.
So, does this create an infinite universe? Again, I'm gonna go with no.
Identity is finity. That is to say, to be is to be limited. There are borders
and ends and beginnings. And, as the universe is, it is limited.
Now, as a final bit of ignorance confession, I have about no mathematical
knowledge and virtually no scientific learning (apart from books I read). So,
just as Aristotle made sense to himself, but looks pretty silly next to
empirical proof, I'm willing to accept a cunning and empirical refutation. Or
any refutation, really, that works out.
Thanks for reading,
William
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