Zeno's Paradoxes
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the paradoxes attributed to Zeno of Elea (c490-430BC) which have stimulated mathematicians and philosophers for millennia.
In a programme first broadcast in 2016, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Zeno of Elea, a pre-Socratic philosopher from c490-430 BC whose paradoxes were described by Bertrand Russell as "immeasurably subtle and profound." The best known argue against motion, such as that of an arrow in flight which is at a series of different points but moving at none of them, or that of Achilles who, despite being the faster runner, will never catch up with a tortoise with a head start. Aristotle and Aquinas engaged with these, as did Russell, yet it is still debatable whether Zeno's Paradoxes have been resolved.
With
Marcus du Sautoy
Professor of Mathematics and Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford
Barbara Sattler
Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of St Andrews
and
James Warren
Reader in Ancient Philosophy at the University of Cambridge
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Last on
LINKS AND FURTHER READING
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READING LIST:
Aristotle (trans. Robin Waterfield), Physics (Oxford University Press, 2008), especially Book 6, chapter 9
J. A. Faris, The Paradoxes of Zeno (Avebury, 1996)
Adolf Grunbaum, Modern Science and Zeno鈥檚 Paradoxes (Allen & Unwin, 1968)
R. M. Sainsbury, Paradoxes, Cambridge University Press, 2009)
Wesley C. Salmon (ed.), The Paradoxes of Zeno (first published 1970; Hackett Publishing Co, 2001)
Wesley C. Salmon, Space, Time and Motion: A Philosophical Introduction (University of Minnesota Press, 1980)
Marcus du Sautoy, What We Cannot Know: Explorations at the Edge of Knowledge (Fourth Estate, 2016)
James Warren, Presocratics, (Routledge, 2007)
Credits
| Role | Contributor |
|---|---|
| Presenter | Melvyn Bragg |
| Interviewed Guest | Marcus du Sautoy |
| Interviewed Guest | Barbara Sattler |
| Interviewed Guest | James Warren |
| Producer | Simon Tillotson |
Broadcasts
- Thu 22 Sep 2016 09:00成人论坛 Radio 4
- Thu 22 Sep 2016 21:30成人论坛 Radio 4
- Thu 28 May 2020 09:00成人论坛 Radio 4
- Thu 28 May 2020 21:30成人论坛 Radio 4
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