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Zeno of Elea: 2 ideas worth knowing

2 ideas from Zeno of Elea, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.

• An arrow in flight is, at every single instant, standing completely still

  Zeno of Elea argued that at any given instant, a flying arrow occupies exactly one position and isn't moving through it — a snapshot of that instant shows a motionless arrow. If ti…

  — Zeno of Elea, via Aristotle, Physics (Aristotle's account of Zeno's arguments)

• Give a tortoise a head start, and Achilles can logically never catch it

  Zeno of Elea argued that fast Achilles, racing a slow tortoise given a head start, can never overtake it: by the time he reaches where the tortoise was, it has always moved a littl…

  — Zeno of Elea, Zeno's paradoxes

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