Infinity

Does infinity exist?

During a game of Pictionary, one of my teammates was challenged to demonstrate the concept of infinity. Naturally she drew the horizontal 8, the symbol for infinity. Two things occurred: first, we argued as to whether it was legal for her to draw a symbol, but the argument was unimportant; the second, a friend noted that the infinity symbol is actually a number. It is a symbol for a number that does not exist. This innocent remark sparked the thought, "What defines the existence of a number?"

Infinity does not exist in reality, yet, does any number exist outside of our mind? Obviously the concept of infinity is far beyond the understanding of this author. Mathmaticians have struggled with this concept for centuries. However, even a simple understanding begs the question: if numbers exist by human definition, does not infinity exist due to the human postulation creating infinity? Perhaps this argument is purely ontological. However, I propose that the concept exists prior to human recognition rather than because of human labeling.

While one cannot "quantify" infinity, for quantification would defy the very concept of infinity, it must exist if humans can conceive of it. The logic of this argument is also used in the ontological argument for God, which I will not delve into at this point (refer to the link, it is quite clear.)

So at the end of this postulation, consider the question: does exterior reality determine the existence of certain concepts, or is it our discovery of concepts, and then human labeling that bring them into existence? The difference is finite, but it does exist; at least it does in my mind.