Zeno’s Paradox

[AshvinP]

We (at least I) have no experience of an infinite set of phenomena or states of consciousness. All we actually experience (so far) is only a temporal sequence of various finite states. On the other hand, we seem to find (or at least can infer) no limits to the possible states that Consciousness can experience, so we develop an idea of "unlimited potentiality": Consciousness can in principle experience any state with no seeming limits. Now, if we apply thinking further, we can infer an idea of an "actual infinity" of the set of all possible ideas and states existing "out of time", or at least the "actual infinity" of all possible ideas and states potentially existing "out of time". Yet, to my knowledge, humans never experienced such actual infinity, so we have no experiential evidence for the existence of such reality whatsoever.

I think the idea of infinity has developed as an extrapolation to the "end result" of an unlimited process. Humans discovered that if they put a heap of rocks together, they can always add one more to it with no limitation on that process of addition. So they would naturally be puzzled - what would be an "end result" of such limitless addition? And by applying their faculty of abstract thinking, they came up with an idea of the infinity as an "end result" of the unlimited process. But when we refer to the facts of the actual experience, we can only find the "unlimited process" of never-ending addition, but never the "end result" of it.

Right. In my thinking, the positive treatment of infinity is not by trying to encompass infinitely many elements but to realize that there are things for which there's no justification to place any limits. For example, we can argue that the heap of rocks can not be infinite because we'll exhaust the rock matter of the Earth or something like that. But in relation to the possible states of consciousness there's nothing that forces us to accept that there are finite number of possible states. In fact, through thought experiments we can imagine that finite set of states would lead to strange results. At any point we can experience a new state which encompasses the previous. If in this way we exhaust all the finite states it will follow that at the last state we are no longer able to encompass the previous but will have to repeat some state that we've already went through. If I'm not mistaken Nietzsche thought that there're finite states of being and as such existence is bound to repeat itself.

Yep, "eternal recurrence of the same". Heidegger's take on it is very interesting and seems to align with what you are saying.

This chapter will look at one of the most influential and groundbreaking interpretations of Nietzsche’s thought of eternal recurrence in the twentieth century, that of Martin Heidegger, which will allow us to gain a true understanding of eternal recurrence and critically engage with it. Heidegger was one of the first thinkers truly to emphasize that if one could fully understand and incorporate the thought of eternal recurrence, then one would have a certain power and control over the past. For Heidegger, to affirm the eternal recurrence is to engage in the highest creative activity possible of the will to power – to stamp the character of Being on Becoming.

Heidegger’s other striking claim is that Nietzsche’s philosophy and his thought of eternal recurrence, although attempting to surmount Platonism and so nihilism in all its forms, actually ends up representing the completion of metaphysics, taking nihilism to its peak, by becoming entrenched in the very Platonism it is trying to overcome. For Heidegger, Nietzsche’s philosophy of eternal recurrence, in submitting the world to human evaluation and judgement, cannot be anything other than nihilistic, since it transforms Being into value, terminating any further inquiry into the question of Being.

[Eugene I]

Cleric, I agree that so far we have no evidence of the limits of the possible conscious states. So, it can be inferred that every next state, even though typically causally related to the previous one, in principle has "unlimited potential" to happen in any possible way.