What Does Turtles All The Way Down Mean

The phrase originates from a conversation that occured directly after a speech which described how the earth revolves around the sun.

The metaphor in the anecdote represents a popular notion of the theory that earth is actually flat and is supported on the back of a world turtle which itself is propped up by a chain of. Turtles all the way down when you are having an argument and you see your logic begin to fail you can use this phrase to automatically win. Turtles all the way down is part of an old joke often used as a rebuttal for the existence of god. Turtles all the way down.

It s unclear where the expression first came from as versions of it have appeared since the mid. Turtles all the way down is a jocular expression of the infinite regress problem in cosmology posed by the unmoved mover paradox. It suggests that this turtle rests on the back of an even larger turtle which itself is part of a column of increasingly large world turtles that continues indefinitely. Turtles all the way down is an expression of the problem of infinite regress.

The saying alludes to the mythological idea of a world turtle that supports the flat earth on its back.