Exploring philosophical questions about infinity, Graham Oppy examines how the infinite lurks everywhere, both in science and in our ordinary thoughts about the world. He also analyzes the many puzzles and paradoxes that follow in the train of the infinite, including such simple notions as counting, adding, and maximizing present serious difficulties. Other topics examined include the nature of space and time, infinities in physical science, infinities in theories of probability and decision, mathematical theories of the infinite, and infinite regression and principles of sufficient reason.
Graham Oppy is Associate Dean of Research in the Faculty of Arts at Monash University in Australia. He is the author of Ontological Arguments and Belief in God and Arguing about Gods (Cambridge University Press, 2009), and has received fellowships from the Australian Research Council. He is associate editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy and sits on the editorial boards of Philo, Religious Studies, and Sophia.
Introduction; 1. Beginnings and puzzles; 2. Mathematical preliminaries; 3. Some cases discussed; 4. Space, time, and spacetime; 5. Physical infinities; 6. Probability and decision theory; 7. Mereology; 8. Philosophical theories; 9. Infinite regress and sufficient reason.