Besnard, Fabien (2010) Time of Philosophers, Time of Physicists, Time of Mathematicians. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Is presentism or possibilism compatible with Relativity ? This question has been much debated since the argument first proposed by Rietdijk and Putnam. The goal of this text is to study the implications of both special and general relativity, and quantum mechanics, on presentism, possibilism, and eternalism. We put the emphasis on the implicit metaphysical preconceptions underlying each of these different approaches to the question of time. We show that there exists a unique version of presentism which is both non trivial, in the sense that it does not reduce the present to a unique event, and compatible with special relativity and quantum mechanics: the one in which the present of an observer at a point is identified with the past light cone of that point. However, this compatibility is achieved at the cost of a renouncement to the notion of an objective, observer-independent reality. We also argue that no non-trivial version of presentism survives in general relativity, although, if some mechanism forbids the existence of closed timelike curves, then precisely one version of possibilism does survive. We remark that the quoted physical theories force the presentist/possibilist's view of reality to shrink and break up, whereas the eternalist, on the contrary, is forced to grant the status of reality to more and more entities. Finally, we identify mathematics as the "deus ex machina" allowing the eternalist to unify his vision of reality into a coherent whole, and propose him a "idealist deal": to accept a mathematical ontology in exchange for the assurance of surviving any physical theory.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Besnard, Fabien
Additional Information:	Based on a talk given at the 11th International Symposium on the frontiers of fundamental physics (FFP 11, Paris, July 2010)
Keywords:	presentism, possibilism, eternalism, mathematical realism
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Mathematics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory General Issues > Determinism/Indeterminism
Depositing User:	Fabien Besnard
Date Deposited:	23 Apr 2011 13:43
Last Modified:	23 Apr 2011 13:43
Item ID:	8579
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Mathematics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory General Issues > Determinism/Indeterminism
Date:	September 2010
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/8579

Available Versions of this Item

• Time of Philosophers, Time of Physicists, Time of Mathematicians. (deposited 23 Sep 2010)
  • Time of Philosophers, Time of Physicists, Time of Mathematicians. (deposited 23 Apr 2011 13:43) [Currently Displayed]

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