Release Message:  There are many things, but a fixed number, and so they will be ñlimited.î But given many things, each two must be distinct with a third thing separating them, so they will be ñunlimited.î

Description:  This paradox is alsoæcalled the Paradox of Denseness.æSuppose there exist many things rather than, as Parmenides would say, just one thing. Then there will be a definite or fixed number of those many things, and so they will be ñlimited.î But if there are many things, say two things, then they must be distinct, and to keep them distinct there must be a third thing separating them. So, there are three things. But between these, ƒ. In other words, things are dense and there is no definite or fixed number of them, so they will be ñunlimited.î This is a contradiction, because the plurality would be both limited and unlimited. Therefore, there are no pluralities; there exists only one thing, not many things. This argument is reconstructed from Zeno's own words, as quoted by Simplicius in his commentary of book 1 of Aristotle's Physics. According to the Standard Solution to this paradox, the weakness of Zeno's argument can be said to lie in the assumption that ñto keep them distinct, there must be a third thing separating them.î Zeno would have been correct to say that between any two physical objects that are separated in space, there is a place between them, because space is dense, but he is mistaken to claim that there must be a third physical object there between them. Two objects can be distinct at a time simply by one having a property the other does not have.