Equality and near-equality in a nonstandard world. (English) Zbl 1530.03025
Summary: In the context of nonstandard analysis, the somewhat vague equality relation of near-equality allows us to relate objects that are indistinguishable but not necessarily equal. This relation appears to enable us to better understand certain paradoxes, such as the paradox of Theseus’s ship, by identifying identity at a time with identity over a short period of time. With this view in mind, I propose and discuss two mathematical models for this paradox.
MSC:
| 03A05 | Philosophical and critical aspects of logic and foundations |
| 03H05 | Nonstandard models in mathematics |
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