Zeno of Elea · Philosophy

Achilles and the Tortoise

Zeno’s most famous paradox: give a tortoise a head start, and swift-footed Achilles can never overtake it - for whenever he reaches where it was, it has crawled a little further, and this repeats without end. The paradox seems to prove, against all sense, that the faster runner can never pass the slower.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned Zeno’s Achilles paradox: a tortoise gets a head start; before Achilles can overtake it he must reach the point where it started, but by then the tortoise has moved a little further; Achilles must reach that point, but the tortoise has again moved on; and so on without end - so Achilles seemingly never catc…

Leads to Aristotle.

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