The Form of the Benardete Dichotomy.

Benardete presents a version of Zeno's dichotomy in which an infinite sequence of gods each intends to raise a barrier iff a traveller reaches the position where they intend to raise their barrier. In this paper, I demonstrate the abstract form of the Benardete Dichotomy. I show that the diagnosis b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British Journal for the Philosophy of Science Vol. 56; no. 2; pp. 397 - 418
Main Author: Shackel, Nicholas
Format: Article
Published: University of Chicago Press Jun2005
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Description
Summary:Benardete presents a version of Zeno's dichotomy in which an infinite sequence of gods each intends to raise a barrier iff a traveller reaches the position where they intend to raise their barrier. In this paper, I demonstrate the abstract form of the Benardete Dichotomy. I show that the diagnosis based on that form can do philosophical work not done by earlier papers rejecting Priest's version of the Benardete Dichotomy, and that the diagnosis extends to a paradox not normally classified as a dichotomy. I show how the form is exploited to generate paradox.