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Conventionalism about time direction

Farr, Matt (2021) Conventionalism about time direction. [Preprint]

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Abstract

In what sense is the direction of time a matter of convention? In 'The Direction of Time', Hans Reichenbach makes brief reference to parallels between his views about the status of time’s direction and his conventionalism about geometry. In this article, I: (1) provide a conventionalist account of time direction motivated by a number of Reichenbach’s claims in the book; (2) show how forwards and backwards time can give equivalent descriptions of the world despite the former being the ‘natural’ direction of time; and (3) argue that this offers an important middle-ground position between existing realist and antirealist accounts of the direction of time.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Farr, Mattmail@mattfarr.co.uk0000-0001-6238-7990
Additional Information: Forthcoming in Synthese
Keywords: Direction of time Conventionalism Reichenbach Past hypothesis Causation
Subjects: General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics
General Issues > Causation
General Issues > Conventionalism
General Issues > Explanation
General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science
General Issues > Philosophers of Science
General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics
Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances
Depositing User: Dr Matt Farr
Date Deposited: 09 Dec 2021 05:00
Last Modified: 09 Dec 2021 05:00
Item ID: 19994
Subjects: General Issues > Scientific Metaphysics
General Issues > Causation
General Issues > Conventionalism
General Issues > Explanation
General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science
General Issues > Philosophers of Science
General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics
Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances
Date: 2021
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/19994

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