Two ways of looking at a Newtonian supertask
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.
scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1880560