ABSTRACT
But at this point the philosopher is apt to step in, and to declare that, by all true philosophic principles, every well-defined series of terms must have a last term. If he insists upon creating this last term, and calling it infinity, he easily deduces intolerable contradictions, from which he infers the inadequacy of mathematics to obtain absolute truth. For my part, however, I see no reason for the philosopher’s axiom. To show, if possible, that it is not a necessary philosophic principle, let us undertake its analysis, and see what it really involves.
