Schechtman, Anat
Senior Fellow: June-August 2024
Research Project: Infinity in Modern Philosophy
It was generally agreed in the early modern period that infinity can be understood as a quantitative notion that applies to the likes of space, time, and number, which are in an important sense unlimited. There was, however, no consensus on the question of whether there is, in addition to this quantitative infinity, a non-quantitative type of infinity—one that applies to God, and possibly God alone. My project explores both skeptical and affirmative answers to this question in XVII century philosophy. It aims to answer three main research questions. First, what are the fundamental differences between quantitative and non-quantitative notions of infinity? The second question concerns the historical antecedents of quantitative and non-quantitative notions of infinity, and requires clarifying the theory of quantity that underlies the quantitative notion; as well as tracing a path through central figures in Judeo-Muslim-Christian tradition leading to non-quantitative approaches to infinity. A third cluster of questions concerns infinity itself: what it is, how it works, whether it is realized, and why it is unique. Answering these questions requires charting the various options, both quantitative and non-quantitative. Indeed, one of the project’s innovations resides in its attention to different versions of the quantitative and non-quantitative approaches that were on offer in the early modern period.
Anat Schechtman is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. She is particularly interested in theories of infinity, perfection, being, and substance in the early modern period, focusing on Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, and Leibniz.