Two ways of looking at a Newtonian supertask (Q1863948): Difference between revisions

In 1996 the first author published a paper [Mind 105, 81--83 (1996)] where he discussed how indeterminism may be entailed in classical dynamics by means of supertasks, systems in which an infinite number of individual actions are performed in a finite time. In 1998, \textit{J. S. Alper} and \textit{M. Bridger} (AB) [Synthese 114, 335--369 (1998)] made a critical analysis on Pérez Laraudogoitia (PL) paper, rejecting his conclusion. In the next year, PL replied to AB [Synthese 119, No. 3, 313--323 (1999; Zbl 1032.70003)], arguing that AB did not solve the problems created by his supertask systems. Still in 1999 AB replied [Synthese 119, No. 3, 325--337 (1999; Zbl 1032.70002)] to PL's criticisms. In 2002 PL gave a new reply [Synthese 131, No. 2, 157--171 (2002; Zbl 1139.70001)]. Now, in the present paper, PL and AB seem to put together their disagreements and agreements within the same framework. Further examples of supertasks are proposed in order to illuminate some ideas.