Grim Reaper Paradoxes and Patchwork Principles
Abstract
Benardete paradoxes involve infinite collections of Grim Reapers, assassins, demons, deafening peals, or even sentences. These paradoxes have recently been used in arguments for finitist metaphysical theses such as temporal finitism, causal finitism, and discrete views of time. Here we develop a new finite Benardete-like paradox. We then use this paradox to defend a companions in guilt argument that challenges recent applications of patchwork principles on behalf of the aforementioned finitist arguments. Finally, we develop another problem for those applications by examining the notion of exact duplication.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Philosophy and Theoretical Science
Computability
Logic
AI Algorithms
Theology and Philosophy of Evil
Publication details
- Journal / source
- The Journal of Philosophy
- Publisher
- Philosophy Documentation Center
- Volume
- 123
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 137–163
- Publication date
- 1 January 2026