Backtracking Influence

International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 25 (1):55-71 (2011)
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Abstract

Backtracking influence is influence that zigzags in time. For example, backtracking influence exists when an event E_1 makes an event E_2 more likely by way of a nomic connection that goes from E_1 back in time to an event C and then forward in time to E_2. I contend that in our local region of spacetime, at least, backtracking influence is redundant in the sense that any existing backtracking influence exerted by E_1 on E_2 is equivalent to E_1's temporally direct influence on E_2. I prove the redundancy of backtracking influence using several plausible physical principles without assuming any fundamental temporal or causal asymmetry. This explanation can play a prominent role in an account of why causation appears to be objectively asymmetric regardless of whether the fundamental laws are symmetric.

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Author's Profile

Douglas Kutach
Rutgers University - New Brunswick (PhD)

Citations of this work

Time Travel and Time Machines.Douglas Kutach - 2013 - In Adrian Bardon & Heather Dyke (eds.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Time. Chichester, UK: Blackwell. pp. 301–314.

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References found in this work

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Critique of Pure Reason.I. Kant - 1787/1998 - Philosophy 59 (230):555-557.

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