Farr, Matt and Reutlinger, Alexander (2013) A Relic of a Bygone Age? Causation, Time Symmetry and the Directionality Argument. [Preprint]
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Abstract
Bertrand Russell famously argued that causation is not part of the fundamental physical description of the world, describing the notion of cause as "a relic of a bygone age." This paper assesses one of Russell’s arguments for this conclusion: the ‘Directionality Argument’, which holds that the time symmetry of fundamental physics is inconsistent with the time asymmetry of causation. We claim that the coherence and success of the Directionality Argument crucially depends on the proper interpretation of the ‘time symmetry’ of fundamental physics as it appears in the argument, and offer two alternative interpretations. We argue that: (1) if ‘time symmetry’ is understood as the time-reversal invariance of physical theories, then the crucial premise of the Directionality Argument should be rejected; and (2) if ‘time symmetry’ is understood as the temporally bidirectional nomic dependence relations of physical laws, then the crucial premise of the Directionality Argument is far more plausible. We defend the second reading as continuous with Russell’s writings, and consider the consequences of the bidirectionality of nomic dependence relations in physics for the metaphysics of causation.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | |||||||||
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| Additional Information: | Forthcoming in Erkenntnis. | |||||||||
| Keywords: | Causation; direction of time; time asymmetry; time symmetry; time reversal. | |||||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Causation General Issues > Determinism/Indeterminism General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Laws of Nature Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances |
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| Depositing User: | Dr Matt Farr | |||||||||
| Date Deposited: | 15 Feb 2013 14:20 | |||||||||
| Last Modified: | 15 Feb 2013 14:20 | |||||||||
| Item ID: | 9561 | |||||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Causation General Issues > Determinism/Indeterminism General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Laws of Nature Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances |
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| Date: | 2013 | |||||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/9561 |
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