Question

The Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius proposed the following thought experiment. If the universe has a boundary, we can throw a spear at this boundary. If the spear flies through, then it is not a boundary. If the spear bounces back, there must something beyond this boundary that is itself in space, which means it is not a boundary at all. Either way, it turns out that the universe has no boundary.'
How best can the form of Lucretius ' argument for the infinity of space be described ?

• A. Lucretius shows that positing finite space leads to a contradiction.
• B. Lucretius shows that finite space in inconsistent with physics.
• C. Lucretius shows that finite space in inconceivable with mathematics.
• D. Lucretius shows that finite space is inconceivable.

Answer 1

The correct option is A Lucretius shows that positing finite space leads to a contradiction.

Option (a) is correct as it states that Lucretius showed that believing the space to be finite leads to a contradiction. This is to say that his thought experiment wherein he posited the space to be finite leads to contradictory results . Hence ,(a) is correct.