REASONING ABOUT INFINITY: MATHEMATICAL CONCEPTS AND

IMPLICATIONS ON THE LIMITATIONS OF COMPUTING DEVICES

D.F.M. STRAUSS

ABSTRACT

Within the context of a finite number of entities or even an endless succession of

numbers – like the sequence of natural numbers or a convergent sequence of
fractions (such as n/n+1 that converges towards the limit 1) the capacities of
mechanical or electronic computing devices match those of the human intellect (of
course the former are much quicker!). Whereas the nature of infinity in the sense of
endlessness (the successive infinite) opens up the possibilities of computing devices
this same property highlights their inherent limitations, because no machine can
switch from the successive infinite – providing the foundation for every construction
and computation – to the at once infinite (the actual infinite). Cantor's proof of the
non-denumerability of the real numbers (1874; the famous diagonal proof 1889),
found at the cradle of modern mathematics, employs the at once infinite
transcending the limited nature of the successive infinite.

1. THE ‘UNCOUNTABLE’

Even before I went to school I was baffled by the awareness that one can extend the
act of counting indefinitely. Sometimes the older kids played a game by challenging
each other to see who can count further than anyone else. As I was listening to them
I realized that this exercise could be extended for an indefinite length of time. As a
result I joined the contest ‘ahead’ of everyone else by starting with “one
uncountable,” “two uncountable” and so on.

2. TRANSFINITE ARITHMETIC

Of course what I did not realize at the time was that owing to the German
mathematician Georg Cantor (1845-1918) modern mathematics already developed
an impressive theory of ‘transfinite’ numbers. This development was exceptional in
many ways, amongst them particularly because the awareness of infinity prompted
the sharpest spirits in the domains of mathematics, physics and philosophy
throughout the history of scholarly reflection to master the nature of the infinite.

3. THE CONTRIBUTION OF GREEK CULTURE

Greek culture made significant contributions to an understanding of the infinite.

Although the Pythagoreans truly admired the explanatory power of number and
numerical relations above anything else, the school of Parmenides (apparently
borne in 510 B.C.) soon challenged our ordinary understanding of multiplicity and
movement. In response to the challenge entailed in the Paradoxes of Zeno we later
on find that Aristotle rejected what was known as the “actual infinite.” If there would

D.F.M. Strauss 46
be something like that it would imply that each one of its parts is also actually infinite
– but then such parts would be equal (or: equivalent) to the whole (see Aristotle,
Physica, 204 a 25; 2001:260-261), contradicting Aristotle's belief that the whole is
1
prior to (or: more than the sum of) its parts. What is finite and limited was complete,
but what is infinite was incomplete. Descartes turns this classical view upside down
for according to him the infinite is complete and the finite incomplete, so that the
finite should actually be referred to as the non-infinite. Since Spinoza identified God
with nature (Deus sive natura), he also saw the universe as an instance of
completed infinitude.

4. GALILEO ON SQUARES AND THE NATURAL NUMBERS

But it is to Galileo that we owe a discussion of the remarkable relation between

square numbers and the sequence of all numbers in dialogue form in March 1638:
All numbers are not square numbers (like 1, 4, 9, 16, 25... ). All numbers, i.e. square
and non-square numbers, are certainly more than the square numbers on their own.
From 0-100 there are only ten squares (100 = 102); from 0-10000 there are hundred
squares; from 0-10000 there are 1000 squares (10000 = 1002); from 0-1000000
there are only a 1000 squares (1000000 = 10002); and so forth. However, if we ask:
how many square numbers exist? we can answer: just as many as there are square
roots, since every square has a root and every root is the root of a square. Then,
however, there are just as many squares as there are (natural) numbers!

12 22 32 42..........
1 2 3 4...........

Bernard Bolzano built on this in a posthumously published work by considering an

infinite set as being characterized by the fact that the whole set can be matched
element by element (in the case of Galileo's example: 1 with 12, 2 with 22, 3 with 32,
and so forth) with a true subset (the set of squares is a subset of the set of natural
numbers) (Bolzano, 1920, par.20:27ff.). In the case of an infinite set the whole is
therefore equal (or: equivalent) to a part, thereby showing that Aristotle's objection
against the “actual infinite” turned out to highlight a characteristic feature of it!

5. BACK TO ARISTOTLE ON THE POTENTIAL AND ACTUAL INFINITE

Let us return for a moment to the bipolar nature of the infinite as it is strikingly en-
countered in Zeno's arguments against motion. Aristotle mentions Zeno's four
arguments in his Physics (cf. 233 a 13ff. and 239 b 5ff.). We will refer to only two
particularly illustrative arguments, namely that of Achilles who can never catch up
with the tortoise (since the tortoise constantly establishes a lead while Achilles
moves towards the previous position of the tortoise), and the argument that it is
impossible to move from point A to point B for in order to do so, after all, it is first
necessary to traverse half the distance, thereafter half of the remaining distance,
and thereafter again a half of the remaining distance – ad infinitum (cf. Dielz-Kranz,
1959-60 B Fr.3). Zeno concludes: an infinite number of spatial sub-intervals must be
1

47 Journal for New Generation Sciences: Volume 4 Number 2

crossed to move from A to B and this is impossible in a finite period of time. It is after
all impossible to actually exhaust the infinite. Therefore motion is impossible. This is
an instance of the apparent contradiction between the uncompleted infinite and the
completed infinite.2

6. THE BASIC MEANING OF ENDLESSNESS

Surely we are all familiar with the most basic nature of the infinite – understood in
the literal sense of being without an end. Words like endlessness and indefinitely
echo the same core meaning of the infinite. In order to conform to our basic intuition
it is preferable to substitute the phrase “potential infinite” by using the phrase “the
successive infinite.”

In the ordinary theory of numbers the acknowledgement of more and less in the first
place fully depends on the succession of natural numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on,
indefinitely, endlessly. As a first year student in mathematics I have asked the
professor (Prof A.P Malan) what is the infinite, to which he replied: “infinity is a
number larger than any number regardless how large such a number may be.”3
Surely this definition takes the succession of natural numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, …) to its
ultimate consequence: endlessness.

7. THE COMPLICATION CAUSED BY IRRATIONAL NUMBERS

As simple and uncomplicated as this notion of the infinite may appear, it gets
entangled in difficulties as soon as we extend the concept of number beyond natural
numbers, integers and fractions. Let us look at the sketch 1 below.

Sketch 1
If the number of ‘steps’
approximate infinity
will the length of the
diagonal be
= 2 or = 2 ? 1

2
We must therefore differ from Titze's statement that the “numerically-infinite was inconceivable in
Greek philosophy” (1984:141). Anaxagoras without doubt already had a conception of the potentially-
infinite, while we obviously find an initial conception of the infinite divisibility of a continuum in
Zeno's thought (cf. his B Fr.3).
3
“Oneindig is 'n getal groter as enige getal hoe groot ookal”.

D.F.M. Strauss 48
The sketch captures 5 steps – each constituted by a horizontal and a vertical line.
The horizontal lines divide the basis of the rectangular triangle in five equal parts
and combined they add up to the length 1 – and the same applies to the vertical line
(their combined lengths also add up to 1). Suppose now we increase the number of
steps and make them 10 – will anything change in respect of the length of the
combined horizontal or vertical lines? The answer seems to be: no. Suppose now
that we proceed by increasing the number of steps indefinitely – then the same
would hold, i.e. the respective (horizontal and vertical) sums of the lines will still add
up to 1 + 1 = 2. Yet we know from the theorem of Pythagoras that the diagonal is the
limit of this constantly increasing number of steps (ever diminishing intervals) – and
we also know that its length is not 2 but the square root of 2 (

We may have an intellectual representation of this limiting case (where the length of
the diagonal equals 2) and at the same time be aware of the fact that any physical
succession of events (’steps’ – to play with the ambiguity of the word /step/) can
never be completed since it has to remain open to the future. Apparently physical
reality only allows for infinite possibilities without being able to ‘close them off’ into
an infinite totality, a completed infinite whole.

Greek mathematics had an implicit awareness of the idea of a limit as can be seen
from the following example:

The sequence is calculated as follows: the denominator (under the line) of every
subsequent fraction equals the sum of the numerator (above the line) and
denominator of the previous fraction, while the numerator of every subsequent
fraction equals the sum of its own denominator and that of the previous fraction. The
sum of the numerator and denominator of 1/1 equals 2 – the denominator of the
second fraction – while the sum of the first two denominators (i.e. 1+2) equals 3
the numerator of the second fraction. In the same way the denominator of the third
fraction equals the sum of the numerator and denominator of the second fraction
(i.e. 2+3=5) and the numerator of the third fraction equals the sum of the
denominators of the second and third fractions (i.e. 5+2=7). This sequence of
fractions approaches √2 alternately from both sides, namely

To the left and right of 2 we find two sequences of rational numbers which both ap-
proximate 2 as their limit. Since a limit is itself defined as a number (!)
approximated by the terms of a sequence in such a manner that the difference
between the terms of the sequence and the limit-value can be made arbitrarily small
(i.e. smaller than an arbitrary rational number > 0, as it was later formulated), it is
clear that the numerical character of 2 cannot be defined by means of the limit

49 Journal for New Generation Sciences: Volume 4 Number 2

concept, since the limit concept presupposes that whatever functions as limit must
already be a number. 4

It is therefore clear that each approximating value remains rational (i.e. a fraction) –
and 2 is not a fraction. When the Greeks discovered irrational numbers it
threatened their idea of the delimiting nature of number, for an irrational number
harbours within itself the unlimited (a non-repeating decimal fraction). The effect was
that they did not develop a theory of irrational numbers (in modern terms: real
numbers) and in fact opted to switch to a geometrization of mathematics.

8. THE ‘RELATIONSHIP’ OF NUMBER AND SPACE TO PHYSICAL REALITY

What appears to be questionable is the ‘reality’ of the infinite and the ‘existence’ of
irrational numbers (such as 2). But is it necessary to start with the complexity of
infinity and the real numbers? What about the fractions themselves? Given our
mathematical training it is second nature to reason about halves, thirds, and so on.
But where “in reality” do we find halves? It is certainly possible to count a multiplicity
of entities by using natural numbers – but whereas the number of entities
(regardless which kind we may have in mind) in the universe is finite, the natural
numbers are (successively) infinite. Hence, if existence means physical existence,
then the successive infinite sequence of natural numbers does not ‘exist’. Likewise,
within physical reality most entities could be divided, but none of their parts is exactly
one third or a half of the (original) whole entity. In other words, typical physical
halves are not identical to spatial halves in the purely geometrical sense of the term
– entailing that (‘perfect’) fractions also do not ‘exist’ in ‘reality’! The same applies to
other original spatial figures – such as squares and circles for they are also not
identical to any physical circle or physical square. Consequently, with physical
existence as yardstick numerical fractions and normal spatial figures such as
squares and circles do not ‘really exist’.

9. WHAT CAN COMPUTING MACHINES ACCOMPLISH?

We may explore this issue further by reversing our perspective. We know that
physical (or: mechanical) devices may serve as an aid for numerical calculations. It
is known that already in 1642 Blaise Pascal invented a calculating machine,
destined to ease the addition of numbers. Eventually more sophisticated mechanical
calculating machines were invented, until the computer entered the scene with its
incredible (electronic) expansion of the calculating limitations present in mechanical
machines. The brilliant German mathematician, physicist and engineer Johann
(later: John) von Neumann arguably made the most important contribution to what

4
Even Cauchy was still of the opinion that irrational numbers should be considered as being generated
as the limits of convesrging sequences of rational numbers through this approximating process. He is
therefore caught in the same circular argument since the presence of an irrational limit presupposes its
existence as a number, which means that the numerical nature of irrational numbers cannot be defined
in terms of or derived from convergence since the latter presupposes it.

D.F.M. Strauss 50
he called a Mathematical Analyzer Numerical Integrator and Computer (acronym:
MANIAC).

Before this happened the discipline of mathematics and logic witnessed the
invention of an imaginary calculating machine by Alan Turing, since then known as a
Turing machine (see Turing, 1936). Such a machine is conceived as being equipped
with a control-organ that can find itself in a finite number of states (called by Turing
“machine configurations”), as well as an eye and a writing apparatus. Turing
envisaged a number of applications of his machines but focused his more detailed
attention on the development of machines that can compute dual expansions of real
numbers x (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) (see Kleene, 1952:361). The underlying aim is to show that
whatever a human computer can accomplish could be analyzed into successions of
atomic acts of some Turing machine (Kleene, 1952:377). 5 The decisive point to be
observed is that Turing machines are bound to the nature of the successive infinite
(the potential infinite). The implication is that no Turing machine can make the ‘jump’
from 2 to 2 in sketch 1 above!

In spite of the spectacular improvement of the calculating power of contemporary

computers the same limitation holds true for them – they cannot exceed the scope of
successive (infinite) steps – which actually means that they are strictly speaking
finitistic in their operation. What Kleene has emphasized as “successions of atomic
acts” reflects the nature of the successive infinite. The binary basis of computer
electronics on the one hand enables an encoding capable of expressing any
numerical value (and other notational symbols) merely through a combination of
zeros and ones. The length (size) of any sequence of zeros and ones could
(electronically) be extended at will, indefinitely. For that reason computers can set
foot on the most basic path of the infinite, infinity in the literal sense of endlessness.
Yet, however far computers may pursue this path, they will always be restricted to
realize only a finite part of this domain of infinite succession. If we designate the
never ending progression of any given sequence (of zeros and ones) as the
“structural infinite” and the realization of only a (n arbitrarily large) part of it ‘finitistic’
it is clear that not even an electronic device could be truly structurally infinite. That
this state of affairs is dependent upon a proper understanding of the
interconnections between the meaning of number and space will be argued in more
detail below – from which it will be possible to conclude that there is no
constructive transition from the successive infinite to the at once infinite.

However, mathematical analysis and the even more general scope of set theory
employ ideas that transcend the possibilities of any mechanical and any electronic
device. In order to explain what is involved in these advanced mathematical domains
we proceed with a question.

5
Maass distinguishes between a deterministic and an indeterministic Turing machine (in the latter case
its transition function is multiple-valued) (Maass, 1986:143).

51 Journal for New Generation Sciences: Volume 4 Number 2

10. WHAT IS PRESUPPOSED IN THE CONCEPT OF A LIMIT?

Since 1872 modern mathematics realized that one cannot generate any real number
(including an irrational number such as 2) with the aid of a converging sequence of
rational numbers (as we have noted above). In order to be a limit of a converging
sequence of rational numbers that limit-value already ought to be a number;
consequently it cannot come into being through such a converging process.6

Broken down to the steps involved we have (see Scholz & Hasse, 1928:40-42):

6
Cantor eventually pointed out that the ideas formulated in 1872 by Heine were actually derived from
him (see Cantor, 1962:186, 385).

D.F.M. Strauss 52
But before we return to the implicit presence of the at once infinite in the standard
notion of a limit a number of issues require our attention first.

11. MATHEMATICAL PLATONISM AND CONSTRUCTIVISM

Behind all the above considerations several assumptions are concealed. On the one
hand someone like Paul Bernays – the co-worker of David Hilbert (1862-1943 who
had the fame of being the leading mathematician in the world after Poincaré died in
1912) – claimed that mathematical Platonism rules the day amongst mathematicians
(see Bernays, 1976:65). According to him Platonism accepts “mathematical objects”
independent of the thinking mathematical subject (Bernays, 1976:63). Particularly
the transfinite arithmetic of Cantor generated opposing reactions. The intuitionistic
school of thought, initiated by early intuitionists like Kronecker and Le Besque, found
in L.E.J. Brouwer7 and his followers competent mathematicians who rejected the
assumptions of Platonism by defending the conviction that mathematical existence
coincides with constructability – thereby returning to starting-points already found in
Greek thought. All Western thought on infinity and continuity has been decisively
influenced by Aristotle – that is, until Cantor fundamentally questioned it. Becker
writes:

The decisive insight of Aristotle was that infinity just like continuity only
exists potentially. They have no genuine actuality and therefore always
remain uncompleted. Until Cantor opposed this thesis in the second
half of the 19th century with his set theory in which actual infinite
multiplicities were contemplated, the Aristotelian basic conception of
infinity and continuity remained the unchallenged common legacy of all
mathematicians (if not all philosophers).8

Whereas intuitionism rejects the transfinite number theory of Cantor as a phantasm

(see Heyting, 1949:4), David Hilbert appreciated it as the finest product of the
human intellect and proclaimed that no one will be able to drive us out the paradise
created by Cantor (see Hilbert, 1925:170),

Next the intuitionism of Brouwer and his school (see also the support from Dummett,
1978) we may also mention the constructive and operational logic and mathematics
of Paul Lorenzen (see Lorenzen, 1969 and 1975) and the constructive mathematics
of A.A. Markov (see Kushner, 2006). All these schools of thought share the rejection
of what Aristotle called the actual infinite. Strictly speaking they are therefore not
really in a position to accept the ‘existence’ of real numbers (including the irrational
7
See Brouwer 1907, 1919 and 1919a.
8
“Die entscheidende Erkenntnis des Aristoteles war, dass Unendlichkeit wie Kontinuität nur in der
Potenz existieren, also keine eigentliche Aktualität besitzen und daher stets unvollendet bleiben. Bis
auf Georg Cantor, der in der 2.Hälfte des 19.Jahrhunderts dieser These mit seiner Mengenlehre
entgegentrat, in der er aktual unendliche Mannigfalgtigkeiten betrachtete, ist die aristotelische
Grundkonzeption von Unendlichkeit und Kontinuität das niemals angefochtene Gemeingut aller
Mathematiker (wenn auch nicht aller Philosophen) geblieben” (Becker, 1964:69).

53 Journal for New Generation Sciences: Volume 4 Number 2

numbers) because at most they adhere to a position where successively infinite
approximations of real numbers are constructed on the basis of rational numbers.
This entails that these views still in principle adhere to the view already advanced by
Kurt Geissler in 1902. He writes:

The irrational is accordingly merely as a relationship available; in itself

no single irrational number exists.9

If we jump to Markov we in principle find that he still adheres to the same view:

In particular, a constructive real number is a coded pair of algorithms.

The first algorithm represents a sequence of rational numbers …, while
the second give a Cauchy modulus for this sequence. As a syntactic
object, a constructive real number contains sufficient information to
effectively find rational approximations to the real number with any
desired accuracy (Kushner, 2006:563).

The “desired accuracy” simply represents rational numbers approximating (in the
sense of the successive infinite) the real number as close as one may wish.

12. THE UNSURPASSABLE BOUNDARY FOR ANY CONSTRUCTION 10

The extreme difficulties traditionally encountered in all attempts to give a positive

content to the idea of the actual infinite explains perhaps why most objections in fact
used the successive infinite as measure or yardstick for mathematical existence, and
sometimes even confused this yardstick with an idea of existence that connects it
with physical existence. In other words, those philosophers and mathematicians who
traditionally rejected the at once infinite in most instances did that by applying the
concept of “existence in succession” as the norm.

13. THE NUMERICAL ORDER OF SUCCESSION

Even if we opt for the successive infinite only, its meaning remains arithmetical and
never becomes “concretely physical.” In addition the numerical “possibilities” of the
meaning of succession simply exceeds “physical reality” by far – the universe has
about 1080 atoms – and Van Dantzig wrote an article asking the question whether 10
twice elevated to the power 10 is still a finite number? Strictly speaking the
successive infinite as such is ever realized – not in physical reality and not in any

9
“Das Irrationale ist demnach nur als Verhältnis vorhanden; es existiert nicht eine einzige irrationale
Zahl” (Greissler, 1902:134).
10
Although within the context of arithmetic and analysis the concept constructive implies computable
Tait points out that “this is a theorem; it is not built into the notion of construction.” In other words, in
general construction and computation should not be identified: “ ‘Constructive’ means that the only
witnesses of existential propositions one admits are ones that can be constructed, where of course this
implies some background rules of construction. From the construction of an object, a means of
computing it (in cases in which this idea makes sense) may or may not be found” (Tait, 2006:213).

D.F.M. Strauss 54
computer or calculating device. Its literal numerical meaning after all is that it is
without an end, i.e. endless.

What is important to realize is that there is a strict correlation between the numerical
order of succession and any succession of numbers factually exhibiting this order of
succession. The latter serves as the foundation for what is known as (mathematical)
induction and it safeguards mathematics from collapsing into an “enormous
tautology” (as Weyl remarked – see Weyl, 1966:86). Of course intuitionism attempts
to “subjectify” this order by emphasizing the constructive nature of the successive
infinite without being able to account for the given order ultimately conditioning any
succession of constructions. Yet the methods of intuitionistic mathematics transcend
what Hilbert intends in his finitistic Metamathematik (Beweistheorie = Proof Theory)
after Gödel published his famous 1931 article on the incompleteness of axiomatic
systems (see Bernays, 1976:60).

14. CANTOR'S UNDERSTANDING OF THE ACTUAL INFINITE

The original and authentic definition given by Cantor of the actual infinite (the at
once infinite) explicitly states that it is not a variable (nicht veränderlich) but firm
(fest) and determined (bestimmt) in all its parts (in allen seinen Teilen), that it is a
true constant (eine richtige Konstante) (Cantor, 1966:401). Cantor's intention was to
provide a purely arithmetical understanding of the actual infinite (also reflected in his
claim that the “continuum” should be seen as a “perfect-coherent set” (eine perfekt-
zusammenhängende Menge – Cantor, 1966:194).

Yet, what he did not realize, is that the key elements of his definition are derived
from aspects that differ from the numerical aspect. His negation of variability makes
an appeal to the physical aspect, his remark that it is a constant reflects the core
kinematic meaning of uniform motion (constancy), whereas the emphasis on firm
and determined as well as on the whole and all its parts is fully dependent upon the
irreducible meaning of the spatial aspect (see Strauss, 2002:27).

15. PRIMITIVE MEANING AND DISCLOSURE

By pointing this out we are actually advancing arguments for the claim that whereas
the successive infinite reflects the “primitive” (not-yet-disclosed) meaning of number,
the at once infinite can only be accounted for by implicitly or explicitly call upon more
than merely the numerical aspect. Yet by accepting number and space as real
aspects of reality (and not mere products or modes of thought) we can side-step
both constructivism and Platonism. The former holds that the mathematical thinking
subject constructs the meaning of number and space, whereas the latter assumes
that what we see as a human disclosure of the ontic nature of these aspects actually
pre-dates human contemplation since it has an eternal (a-temporal) existence
independent of all human construction.

55 Journal for New Generation Sciences: Volume 4 Number 2

16. AN “AS IF” APPROACH

Vaihinger claims that the use of inherently antinomic constructions (designated as

fictions) may serve human (scientific) thought in surprisingly efficient ways. For
example, he characterizes mathematical constructs such as negative numbers,
fractions, irrational and imaginary numbers as “fictional constructs” with a “great
value for the advancement of science and the generalization of its results in spite of
the crass contradictions which they contain.” Yet according to him these fictions are
not hypotheses (Vaihinger, 1949:57).

The co-worker of David Hilbert, Paul Bernays, indeed saw something of the nature
of this regulative hypothesis – and at once he also distances himself from Vaihinger:

The position at which we have arrived in connection with the theory of

the infinite may be seen as a kind of the philosophy of the `as if'.
Nevertheless, it distinguishes itself from the thus named philosophy of
Vaihinger fundamentally by emphasizing the consistency and
trustworthiness of this formation of ideas, where Vaihinger considered
the demand for consistency as a prejudice ... (Bernays, 1976:60).

Paul Lorenzen also sensed something of this approach in his remark that the actual
infinite meaning attached to the “all” shows the employment of a fiction – “the fiction,
as if infinitely many numbers are given” (Lorenzen, 1952:593). But what is striking in
this case is that we see that the “as if” is ruled out, or at least disqualified as
something fictitious, with an implicit appeal to the primitive (undisclosed) meaning of
number.

17. ANTICIPATORY HYPOTHESIS

We may characterize this forward-pointing (anticipatory) hypothesis (referring from

number to space) as a disclosed approach in which any successively infinite
sequence of numbers may be viewed as if it is given at once, as an infinite whole or
totality. The following crucial implications should be highlighted:

(i) The multiplicity present in any at once infinity cannot escape from simulta-
neously echoing succession and transcending it in their being given “at
once”.

(ii) For example, the mere designation of the initial positions of the set of
natural numbers – {1, 2, 3, …} – is not decisive for the kind of infinity it
may capture, in other words, this representation may intend either the
successive infinite or the at once infinite. Suppose we actually assume the
successive infinite, then this set literally is endless. But suppose now that
we start this sequence of natural numbers with 11 as the first number: {11,
12, 13, …}. Of course we can then continue restricting ourselves to the
successive infinite. We may now look at the sequence of fractions

D.F.M. Strauss 56
 generated by substituting 11 with 1/1, 12 by 1/2, 13 by 1/3 and so on.
Then we have {1/1, 1/2, 1/3, …} – still in its successive infinite sense.

(iii) At this point we may now involve our spatial intuition of simultaneity (at
once). We do that by observing the one-one mapping between “all” the
points of the succession {1/1, 1/2, 1/3, …} with those points on the line
matching these fractional (rational) values (“magnitudes”) – as intuitively
explained in the sketch below:

(iv) Through the above-illustrated mapping we can consider each one of the
three successively infinite sequences [namely {1, 2, 3, …}; {11, 12, 13, …}
and {1/1, 1/2, 1/3, …}] as infinite totalities, i.e. under the guidance of our
spatial intuition the initial sets are interpreted as “actually infinite” (at once
infinite) sets! Without the coherence between number and space the idea
of the at once infinite will be intrinsically contradictory.

(v) Just look at the way in which Weyl “abuses” the standard mathematical
“solution” of Zeno's paradoxes in order to disqualify the at once infinite by
employing the successive infinite as yardstick. He mentions that the
current solution of the paradox refers to the successive partial sums of the
series 1/2 + 1/22 + 1/23 + …, 1—1/2n (n = 1, 2, 3, ...) that does not grow
beyond all limits (since they converge towards the number 1) and then
adds the remark that when the infinitely many partial distances are viewed
as a completed totality the essence of infinity is contradicted in the claim
that Achilles in the end completely passed through the ‘Unvollendbaren’
(that which cannot be completed) (Weyl, 1966:61).

(vi) This issue may be ‘simplified’ with reference to the number 1. Consider
the question: is the number 1 equal to 0.999… or not? Suppose we only
accept the potential infinite. Then there will always be more “fractional
amounts” to be added, since however far one proceeds, there will always
be more to come – in which case 0.999… is not equal to one. The other
option is (in following Weiertrass, Dedekind and Cantor) to accept the
“actual infinite” and straightaway to define the number 1 as the “totality” of

57 Journal for New Generation Sciences: Volume 4 Number 2

 the decimal expansion 0.999…! (The approaches of Weierstrass and
Cantor had to use the at once infinite in their account of real numbers.)

18. SIMULTANEITY AND WHOLENESS – CRUCIAL INTERCONNECTIONS

BETWEEN NUMBER AND SPACE

That simultaneity and wholeness transcend the primitive meaning of number could
be argued with an appeal to the views of Bernays and Gödel. Paul Bernays holds
the view that mathematical analysis deals with the conceptual clarification of
geometrical representations and that the totality-character of space obstructs a
complete arithmetization of the continuum (see Bernays, 1976:VIII; 74).11 Gerhard
Gentzen distinguishes three levels of the employment of the infinite in modern
mathematics: (i) elementary number theory, (ii) analysis (where even individual
numbers may be infinite sets) and (iii) general set theory. 12

Add to these perspectives the remark made by Gödel regarding the nature of sets.
Although modern (axiomatic) set theory (Zermelo, Fraenkel, Hilbert, Ackermann,
Von Neumann) pretends to be a purely (atomistic) arithmetical theory, the structure
of set theory actually implicitly (in the undefined term “set” or “member of”) borrows
the whole-parts relation from space.13 This explains why Hao Wang informs us that
Kurt Gödel speaks of sets as being “quasi-spatial” – and then adds the remark that
he is not sure whether Gödel would have said the “same thing of numbers” (Wang,
1988:202). The idea of wholeness or totality indeed has an original spatial meaning.
Consequently, the notion of the power or cardinality of sets cannot be understood
without acknowledging the interplay of succession and at once (number and space).
For this reason set theory ought to be appreciated as an arithmetical theory guided,
directed and deepened by the core meaning of space (continuous extension).14

11
“Bei der Analysis handelt es sich um die begriffliche Präzisierung geometrischer Vorstellungen”
Bernays, 1976:VIII); “… daß die intuitionistische Vorstellung nicht jenen Charakter der
Geschlossenheit besitzt, der zweifellos zur geometrischen Vorstellung des Kontinuums gehört. Und es
ist auch dieser Charakter, der einer vollkommenen Arithmetisierung des Kontinuums entgegensteht”
(Bernays, 1976:74).
12
“Admitted as objects here are not only the natural numbers and other finitely describable quantities, as
the first level, as well as infinite sets of these, as at the second level, but, in addition, infinite sets of
infinite sets and again sets of such sets, etc., in the utmost conceivable generality” (Gentzen, 1969:223-
224).
13
In passing we may note that an intuitionistic approach such as the one found in Dummett 1978 on the
one hand rejects the actual infinite (in the sense of an “infinite totality”) but then continues to use an
expression like an “infinite domain” without realizing it is just a substitute for the idea of an “infinite
totality” (cf. Dummett, 1978:22, 24, 57, 58, 59, 63 and so on). In fact, there is no way in which a
mathematician can analyze the meaning of number without in some or other way employing terms
derived from the aspect of space.
14
This view finds support in the conviction defended by Bernays, namely that the distinction between an
‘arithmetical’ and a ‘geometrical’ intuition should not be accounted for in terms of space and time, but
by considering the difference between discreteness and continuity : “Es empfiehlt sich, die
Unterscheidung von ‘arithmetischer’ und ‘geometrischer’ Anschauung nicht nach den Momenten des
Räumlichen und Zeitlichen, sondern im Hinblick auf den Unterschied des Diskreten und
Kontinuierlichen vorzunehmen” (Bernays, 1976:81)

D.F.M. Strauss 58
A remarkable ambivalence in this regard is found in the thought of Abaraham
Robinson. His exploration of infinitesimals is based upon the meaning of the at once
infinite. A number a is called infinitesimal (or infinitely small) if its absolute value is
less than m for all positive numbers m in being the set of real numbers).
According to this definition 0 is infinitesimal. The fact that the infinitesimal is merely
the correlate of Cantor's transfinite numbers is apparent in that r (not equal to 0) is
infinitesimal if and only if r to the power minus 1 (r -1) is infinite (cf. Robinson,
1966:55ff). In 1964 he holds that “infinite totalities do not exist in any sense of the
word (i.e., either really or ideally). More precisely, any mention, or purported
mention, of infinite totalities is, literally, meaningless.“ Yet he believes that
mathematics should proceed as usual, “i.e., we should act as if infinite totalities
really existed” (Robinson, 1979:507).

The idea of the at once infinite is made possible by the uniqueness and mutual
coherence between number and space and – acknowledging that the at once infinite
‘borrows’ from space both its order of simultaneity and the whole-parts relationship
represents a third alternative not explored in the long-standing reductionistic legacy
of mathematics – either reducing space to number (starting with the Pythagoreans
and re-established by Weierstrass, Cantor and Dedekind) or reducing number to
space (since Parmenides and his school and revived in the last phase of the thought
of Frege – see Frege, 1979:277).

19. BEYOND ANY COMPUTING DEVICE BUT WITHIN THE REACH OF HUMAN
UNDERSTANDING

Because every computing device (mechanical or electronic) is bound to physical

processes it is understandable why such a device can only operate on the first level
of infinity distinguished by Gentzen (where the successive infinite involves natural
numbers and their relationships, evinced in ratios of fractions). Only on this basis it is
possible to approximate what is found within the second and third levels of the
infinite according to Gentzen. What no machine can achieve is the realization of the
at once infinite something the human intellect can indeed contemplate. We may
illustrate this unique human intellectual ability by recollecting the genesis of modern
set theory once the concept of denumerability surfaced in Cantor's Mengenlehre.
When the elements of any set can be correlated in a one-to-one way with the natural
numbers (1, 2, 3, ...) it is said that the cardinality (or power) of such a set is
denumerably infinite (Cantor introduced the symbol aleph-zero: ). One can easily
see that the integers are denumerably infinite, because one can count (enumerate)
them by starting with 0 then move to +1, then to -1, then to +2, then to -2, and so on
indefinitely. Likewise it turned out that also the rational numbers (fractions) are
denumerably infinite. Count first 1/1, then 2/1, then 1/2, then 1/3, then 2/2, then 3/1,
then 4/1, and so on (see Meschkowski, 1972:23):

59 Journal for New Generation Sciences: Volume 4 Number 2

Once this ‘triangle’ is converted into the representation below the denumerability of
the rational numbers is immediately clear

However, in 1874 Cantor proved that the real numbers are not denumerable (i.e.
that they are non-denumerable). In 1890 he provided his famous diagonal proof,
used in the explanation below (cf. Cantor, 1962:278-281). A one-to-one
correspondence could be established between all real numbers and the set of real
numbers between 0 and 1. Furthermore, every real number in this interval can be
represented as an infinite decimal fraction of the form xn = 0.a1a2a3a4 ... (numbers
with two decimal representations, e.g. 0.100000... and 0.099999 ... are consistently
represented in the form with nines). Suppose a denumeration x1, x2, x3, ... exists of
all the real numbers between 0 and 1, i.e. of all the real numbers in the (closed)
interval 0 ≤ xn ≤ 1 (i.e. [0,1]), namely:

If another number can be found between 0 and 1 which differs from every xn, it
would mean that every denumeration of the real numbers would leave out at least
one real number, which would prove that the real numbers are non-denumerable.
Such a number we can construe as follows:

It is clear that y is a real number between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 ≤ y ≤ 1). The number y does
not have two decimal representations since every decimal number in its decimal
development is unequal to 0 and 9. The number is also unequal to every real
number xn since the decimal expansion of y in the first decimal place differs from the
first decimal number x1, in the second differs from the second decimal number of x2
(namely x2), and in general from the nth decimal number of xn. It is clear from this
that a denumeration of the real numbers will always exclude at least one real

D.F.M. Strauss 60
number (“miscount” it in the denumeration), which concludes Cantor's proof that real
numbers are non-denumerable.

20. THE PROOF OF NON-DENUMERABILITY IS DEPENDENT UPON A

SPECIFIC IDEA OF INFINITY

Although this ‘proof’ seems to be ‘exact’ it is dependent upon the acceptance of the
at once infinite. Those mathematical schools of thought that reject the at once infinite
cannot conclude to non-denumerability. 15 Someone who recognizes only the
uncompleted infinite can never accept this conclusion, since the diagonal method
then only proves that for a given constructible sequence of countable sequences
(i.e. decimal expansions of real numbers) of natural numbers, yet another different
countable sequence of natural numbers can be construed. Becker states this in the
following way: “The diagonal method demonstrates, strictly speaking, the following:
when one has a counted (law-conformative) sequence of successive numbers, a
sequence of successive numbers can be calculated which differs in every place from
all the previous ones” (Becker, 1973:161 footnote 2). In this interpretation non-
denumerability does not feature!

A mathematical proof which apparently takes an “exact” course therefore comes to

conflicting conclusions depending on the presuppositions (namely the successive
infinite or the at once infinite) from which one proceeds! Fraenkel points this out
emphatically:

Cantor's diagonal method does not become meaningless from this

point of view, ... the continuum (i.e. the real numbers – DFMS) appears
according to it as a set of which only a countable infinite subset can be
indicated, and this by means of pre-determinable constructions
(Fraenkel, 1928:239 footnote 1).

Most modern mathematicians do not realize that the at once infinite is different from
and irreducible to the successive infinite. In terms of these two kinds of infinity there
are alternative interpretations of the two key “quantifiers” of mathematical logic,
namely the universal quantifier (for all: ) and the existential quantifier (for some;
there exist: ) (see Gentzen, 1935:32). In addition we have to note, without being
able to explain this issue in more detail here, that the familiar understanding of the
symbolic expression “ ” within analysis is mistaken. If the symbolic expression
“ ” indicates that a variable “approximates infinity” then it appears to specify an
instance of the successive infinite. Yet the numerical value of the limit actually
reveals an instance of the at once infinite. Just recollect the sketch 1 above. As long
as the word /approximate/ designates successsive fractions (rational numbers) the
horizontal and vertical lines of the steps respectively remain 1 when added – in
which case the “step-wise” approximation of the diagonal equals 2. The moment the

15
The assumption of Cantor's diagonal proof is that all the xn's (as an infinite totality given at once) are
arranged in a denumerable sequence.

61 Journal for New Generation Sciences: Volume 4 Number 2

symbolic expression “6 4 ” is understood in the sense of the at once infinite, we have
the exact value of the diagonal at hand: 2 (which is an irrational number – and
irrational numbers can only be introduced on the basis of the acceptance of the at
once infinite). The ‘step’ from 2 to 2 is strictly correlated with the difference between
the successive infinite and the at once infinite.

The same applies to the other example that we have used, namely where the
number 1 is the limit of the “approximating sequence” n/n+1 where “n ”:

In this case one can view the finite number 1 as being ‘constituted’ by the infinite
totality of all the numerical values of n/n+1 – given at once.

21. IMPLICATIONS FOR SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

One of the successful features of the modern natural sciences (including the
interplay of physics and mathematics) is that it opened up multiple contexts of
measurement. The training of engineers is therefore understandably intimately
connected with mathematical skills (calculations). But precisely when it comes to an
account of measurement the difference between the successive infinite and the at
once infinite once again surfaces. The reason for that is given in the fact that all
physical measurements are bound to the rational numbers, while the theoretical
structure of a metric rests on the nature of the real numbers.16 And we have seen
that whereas an account of the nature of the rational numbers can “get away” with
the meaning of endlessness a truly disclosed and deepened understanding of the
real numbers requires the at once infinite.

Furthermore, it should be kept in mind that a technical invention is never a

conclusion of (physical) science. Scientific analysis and argumentation are different
from a technical invention. Physical construction present in technical inventions and
engineering innovations is bound to endlessness – in the sense of a finite number of
steps – even though the theoretical background of modern mathematical physics
inevitably has its (deepened) foundation in the employment of the at once infinite
exemplified in the real numbers. The latter embodies the amazing capacity of the
human intellect, manifest in its ability to disclose the primitive meaning of the
successive infinite by employing the “as if” hypothesis of the at once infinite –
transcending the limits of any constructive (successive infinite) approach, such as
the physical practice to which science, engineering and technology is inevitably
bound.

16
It is not necessary to enter here into an explanation of what this all entails - such as introducing
comparative (or: topological) concepts, considering equivalence classes and groups, and so on. For a
more detailed analysis of the relation between metric and measurement, see Stafleu 1972 (pp.43-49)
and Stafleu 1980 (pp.59-67).

D.F.M. Strauss 62
22. CONCLUDING REMARK

Although any succession of numbers could be mapped onto the natural numbers (1,
2, 3, …) and although this kind of succession can be extended indefinitely, this
endlessness already exceeds physical reality (the physical universe has about 1080
atoms). The calculating power of any (mechanical or electronic) computing device is
therefore irrevocably restricted to a finitistic reality that at most can explore
successive infinite possibilities (i.e. its approximating power finds in the nature of the
rational numbers its only operational possibility).

The meaning of the at once infinite (actual infinite) cannot be accounted for merely in
numerical terms (merely in terms of successions), since both the spatial order of
simultaneity and the spatial whole-parts relation play a guiding role in the possibility
the human intellect has to view any (denumerable or non-denumerable) multiplicity
as if it is given at once – and there is no constructive transition from the successive
infinite to the at once infinite (see Wolff, 1971:399-400). Ultimately the irreducibility
of the spatial aspect serves as the foundation for the irreducibility of the at once
infinite to the successive infinite and explains why there is no constructive transition
from the successive to the at once infinite. The human intellect, exploring these
interrelations between number and space, is therefore more powerful than any
technical device, which is always bound to a limited manifestation of the successive
infinite. Consequently, the assessment of Wachter – in a slightly different context –
is justified: “our most modern technology, also the ‘Super-Protonensynchrotron’,
compared with our thoughts, is actually a very primitive tool” (Wachter, 1975:19).

Whenever the regulative hypothesis of the at once infinite is used the human
intellect explored an interconnection between number and space that exceeds the
possibilities of any computing device, thereby underscoring that the possibilities of
the human intellect transcends the limitations of computing devices!17

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Van Suchtelen.

17
It should be kept in mind that the at once infinite cannot be interpreted as the completion of what is
successive infinite. The at once infinite represents an irreducible structural element within the opened
up or deepened structure of the arithmetical aspect of reality, an element that presupposes the
irreducibility of space to number – something repeatedly emphasized by Paul Bernays.

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Key words: successive infinite (potential infinite), at once infinite (actual infinite),
construction, limit, (non-)denumerability

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