Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-x4r87 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T11:04:21.729Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An Attempt to Add a Little Direction to “The Problem of the Direction of Time”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

John Earman
John Earman*
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

It is argued that the main problem with “the problem of the direction of time” is to figure out what the problem is or is supposed to be. Towards this end, an attempt is made to disentangle and to classify some of the many issues which have been discussed under the label of ‘the direction of time’. Secondly, some technical apparatus is introduced in the hope of producing a sharper formulation of the issues than they have received in the philosophical literature. Finally, some tentative suggestions about the central issues are offered. In particuar, it is suggested that entropy and irreversibility are much less crucial to the central issues than most philosophers would have us believe. This suggestion is not made because of any firm conviction of its correctness but rather because it helps to focus the discussion on some basic but long neglected assumptions which underlie traditional approaches.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , March 1974 , pp. 15 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © 1974 by The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

I am indebted to Larry Sklar for many ideas and much advice. Some of the ideas are good. Some of the advice is sound.

References

REFERENCES

[1] Belinfante, F. J. “Kruskal Space Without Wormholes.” Physics Letters 20 (1966): 25–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[2] Black, M. Models and Metaphors. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[3] Blatt, J. M. “An Alternative Approach to the Ergodic Problem.” Progress in Theoretical Physics 22 (1959): 745–756.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[4] Carnap, R. “Replies and Systematic Expositions.” in The Philosophy of Rudolf Carnap. Edited by Schilpp, P. A. La Salle: Open Court, 1963.Google Scholar
[5] Chandrasekhar, S. “Stochastic Problems in Physics and Astronomy.” Reviews of Modern Physics 15 (1943): 1–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[6] Earman, J. “Who's Afraid of Absolute Space?” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 48 (1970): 287–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[7] Earman, J. “Kant, Incongruous Counterparts, and the Nature of Space and Space-Time.” Ratio 13 (1971): 1–18.Google Scholar
[8] Earman, J. “Laplacian Determinism.” Journal of Philosophy 68 (1971): 729–744.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[9] Earman, J. “Some Aspects of General Relativity and Geometrodynamics.” Journal of Philosophy 69 (1972): 634–647.Google Scholar
[10] Earman, J. “Covariance, Invariance, and the Equivalence of Frames.” (forthcoming in Foundations of Physics)Google Scholar
[11] Earman, J. “A New Approach to Causation.” (unpublished)Google Scholar
[12] Earman, J. and Glymour, C. “The Topology of Space, Time and Space-Time.” (unpublished)Google Scholar
[13] Fraser, J. T. The Voices of Time. New York: George Braziller, 1966.Google Scholar
[14] Fraser, J. T. (ed.). The Study of Time. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1972.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[15] Gal-Or, B. “On the Possibility of Cosmological Foundations for Classical and Relativistic Thermodynamics.” In C. Kuper and A. Peres, Relativity and Gravitation. New York: Gordon & Breach, 1971.Google Scholar
[16] Geroch, R. “Spinor Structure of Space-Time.” Journal of Mathematical Physics 9 (1968): 1739–1744.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[17] Gold, T. “Cosmic Processes and the Nature of Time.” in Mind and Cosmos. Edited by Colodny, R. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1966.Google Scholar
[18] Gold, T. (ed.). The Nature of Time. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1967.Google Scholar
[19] Grünbaum, A. “Carnap's Views on the Foundations of Geometry.” in The Philosophy of Rudolf Carnap. Edited by Schilpp, P. A. La Salle: Open Court, 1963.Google Scholar
[20] Grünbaum, A. Philosophical Problems of Space and Time. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1963.Google Scholar
[21] Harman, G. “Knowledge, Inference, and Explanation.” American Philosophical Quarterly 5 (1968): 164–173.Google Scholar
[22] Hooker, C. A. “The Relational Doctrines of Space and Time.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 22 (1971): 97–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[23] Kaempffer, F. A. Concepts in Quantum Mechanics. New York: Academic Press, 1965.Google Scholar
[24] Lebowitz, J. A. and Bergmann, P. G. “A New Approach to Non-Equilibrium Processes.” Physical Review 99 (1955): 578–587.Google Scholar
[25] Markus, L. and Calabi, E. “Relativistic Space Forms.” Annals of Mathematics 75 (1962): 63–76.Google Scholar
[26] Morrison, P. “Time's Arrow and External Perturbations.” in Preludes in Theoretical Physics. Edited by Shalit, A. De. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Co., 1966.Google Scholar
[27] Ne'eman, Y. and Achinan, Y. “Cosmological Implications of Microscopic CP Violation.” in Relativity and Gravitation. Edited by Kuper, C. and Peres, A. New York: Gordon and Breach, 1971.Google Scholar
[28] Penrose, R. “Structure of Space-Time.” in Battelle Recontres. Edited by Wheeler, J. A. and DeWitt, C. M. New York: W. A. Benjamin, 1968.Google Scholar
[29] Reichenbach, H. The Direction of Time. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1956.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[30] Schrödinger, E. Expanding Universes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1957.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[31] Smart, J. J. C. Philosophy and Scientific Realism. New York: Humanities Press, 1963.Google Scholar
[32] Smart, J. J. C. “Time.” Encyclopedia of Philosophy Vol. 8. New York: Macmillan, 1967.Google Scholar
[33] Smart, J. J. C. Between Science and Philosophy. New York: Random House, 1968.Google Scholar
[34] Stuart, E. B., Brainard, A. J., and Gal-Or, B. A Critical Review of Thermodynamics. Baltimore: Mono Book Corp., 1970.Google Scholar
[35] Van Fraassen, B. C. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Time and Space. New York: Random House, 1970.Google Scholar
[36] Watanabe, S. Knowing and Guessing. New York: John Wiley, 1969.Google Scholar
[37] Wigner, E. P. “Relativistic Invariance in Quantum Mechanics.” Nuovo Cimento 3 (1956): 517–532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[38] Wigner, E. P. “The Conceptual Basis and Use of Geometrical Invariance.” Reviews of Modern Physics 37 (1965): 595–632.Google Scholar
[39] Wright, P. G. “Entropy and Disorder.” Contemporary Physics 22 (1970): 587–588.Google Scholar