Endless and Infinite: An Evaluation of Alex Malpass and Wes Morriston Argument

Rahman, Atikur

HISTORICAL: Journal of History and Social Sciences
Vol. 2 No. 3 (2023): History and Cultural Innovation

In a recent paper published in 2020, Alex Malpass & Wes Morriston discuss the difference between beginningless past and an endless future and try to show that beginningless series of past events and an endless series of future ones are in the same boat. So if (as they believe) an endless series of events is possible, then the possibility of a beginningless series of past events should not be rejected merely on the ground that it would be an actual infinite. I will show in this paper that Malpass and Morriston’s refutations are flawed and that their argument does not provide any evidence that a beginningless past is possible.