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Temporally oriented laws

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Abstract

A system whose expected state changes with time cannot have both a forward-directed translationally invariant probabilistic law and a backward-directed translationally invariant law. When faced with this choice, science seems to favor the former. An asymmetry between cause and effect may help to explain why temporally oriented laws are usually forward-directed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, 5185 Helen C. White Hall, 53706, Madison, WI, U.S.A.

    Elliott Sober

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  1. Elliott Sober
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My thanks to Martin Barrett, James Crow, Carter Denniston, Ellery Eells, Malcolm Forster, Richard Lewontin, and the anonymous referees of this journal for useful comments.

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Sober, E. Temporally oriented laws. Synthese 94, 171–189 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01064337

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01064337

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