Discrete
In philosophy, “discrete” means separate, distinct, and individually separated, rather than continuous or unbroken. This concept is fundamental to the historical debate between continuity and discreteness, which explores whether reality is made of continuous substances or separate, individual units. The term is opposed to “continuous,” which describes something that extends without interruption or gaps.
Core meaning
- Separated and distinct: Something discrete is composed of individual, separate parts that can be counted and are not connected by a seamless whole.
- Indivisible units: Discrete entities are often seen as indivisible without changing their essential nature, unlike a continuous substance which can be divided indefinitely. For example, a whole person is a discrete unit, but you cannot have half a person.
- Countable: Discrete things can be counted, such as the integers $(1,2,3,…)$, while continuous things are measured, like height.
Philosophical applications
- Ontology: The debate over substantivalism (the idea that the world is made of discrete objects) versus other views like process philosophy or relational ontology is a core philosophical issue.
- Ancient Greek Philosophy: The opposition between continuity and discreteness was central to ancient Greek thought, often linked to the more fundamental question of the One and the Many.
- Physics: In modern physics, the concept was introduced with Max Planck’s idea that energy is quantized, meaning it exists in discrete “packets” (ℎ), not in a continuous spectrum.
- Perception: Philosophers use the term to describe how we perceive the world, such as seeing an object as a discrete entity while simultaneously tracking its continuous path through space.
AI responses may include mistakes.
[1] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/continuity/
[2] https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2013/entries/continuity/notes.html
[3] https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/16561/1/Discrete%20and%20Continuous.pdf
[4] https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/discrete
[5] https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/3798876/what-does-discrete-really-mean-in-plain-english
[7] https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-011-4209-0_10
[9] https://www.colinmcginn.net/happy-families/
[10] https://www.quora.com/What-does-discrete-mean-in-physics