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instead in terms of the
space-which-something-occupies, or the
time-in-which-something-occurs. What is assumed here
is, for example. the atomicity of the
space-which-something-occupies. and therefore the
atomicity of that which occupies the space, as well.
The interpretation of this Paradox turns on the
phrase, "half a given time is equal to double that
time." It should be borne in mind that the wording
here is Aristotle's, not Zeno's, and that Aristotle
clearly misunderstands this Paradox. He thinks that
Zeno reasons fallaciously that a given object
traveling at a given speed will pass two identical
objects, one stationary and one itself in motion, in
the same amount of time. Modern exponents of this
same interpretation express it differently: Zeno,
they say, is misled by his ignorance of the concept
of relative velocity. Whichever way the alleged
fallacy is stated, Zeno is not foolish enough to have
committed it. He is not saying that (B) will pass (A)
(stationary) and (C) (moving at the same speed as (B)
but in the opposite direction) in the same amount of
time; instead he is pointing out that, if (B) is
traveling at, for example, a speed of one minim of
space per minim of time, it will pass one minim of
(A) in one minim of time, but it will pass one minim
of (C) in half a minim of time, thus dividing the
indivisible minim, which is impossible. The issue of
relative velocity is irrelevant and anachronous.
Not one of these Paradoxes is, by itself, a
convincing argument against motion, but each, when
taken to include its proper assumptions about the
nature of space and time, neatly disposes of one
possible account of the universe in which motion
occurs. (Of course, some of these arguments would
serve for more than one case, but it is reasonable to
assume that four were included for the sake of