an ancient greek philosopher (c. 490–430 bce) known for his paradoxes that challenge the concepts of motion, plurality, and space. he was a student of parmenides and contributed significantly to the development of dialectical reasoning and the philosophy of monism.
zeno was a defender of parmenides' doctrine that reality is unchanging and indivisible, using his paradoxes to argue that motion and multiplicity are illusions.
his ideas laid the groundwork for later developments in mathematics, physics, and logic, influencing thinkers like aristotle and modern mathematical theorists.
famous paradoxes:
achilles and the tortoise: demonstrates that a faster runner (achilles) can never overtake a slower one if the latter has a head start, questioning the nature of infinite divisibility.
the dichotomy paradox: argues that to travel a certain distance, one must first travel half of it, then half of the remaining half, leading to an infinite regress.
the arrow paradox: claims that an arrow in flight is actually at rest at any single instant, implying motion is an illusion.
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