Abstract
This paper offers a defense of backwards in time causation models in quantum mechanics. Particular attention is given to Cramer's transactional account, which is shown to have the threefold virtue of solving the Bell problem, explaining the complex conjugate aspect of the quantum mechanical formalism, and explaining various quantum mysteries such as Schrödinger's cat. The question is therefore asked, why has this model not received more attention from physicists and philosophers? One objection given by physicists in assessing Cramer's theory was that it is not testable. This paper seeks to answer this concern by utilizing an argument that backwards causation models entail a fork theory of causal direction. From the backwards causation model together with the fork theory one can deduce empirical predictions. Finally, the objection that this strategy is questionable because of its appeal to philosophy is deflected.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Aronson, J.: 1971, 'On the Grammar of 'Cause'', Synthese 22, 414–30.
Aronson, J.: 1982, 'Untangling Ontology from Epistemology in Causation', Erkenntnis 18, 293–305.
Bennett, C.: 1987a, 'Evidence for Microscopic Causality Violation', Physical Review A 35, 2409–19.
Bennett, C.: 1987b, 'Precausal Quantum Mechanics', Physical Review A 35, 4139–48.
Costa de Beauregard, O.: 1977, 'Time Symmetry and the Einstein Paradox', Il Nuovo Cimento 42B, 41–63.
Costa de Beauregard, O.: 1992, 'Is There a Reality Out There?', Foundations of Physics 22, 121–35.
Costa de Beauregard, O.: 1993, '“Anti-Realism”: Answer to Phil Dowe', Foundations of Physics Letters 6, 477–79.
Cramer, J.: 1980, 'Generalized Absorber Theory and the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox', Physical Review D 22, 362–76.
Cramer, J.: 1986, 'The Transactional Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics', Reviews of Modern Physics 58, 647–87.
Cramer, J.: 1988, 'An Overviewof the Transactional Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics', International Journal of Theoretical Physics 27, 227–36.
Davidon, W.: 1976, 'Quantum Physics of Single Systems', Il Nuovo Cimento 36B, 34–9.
Dowe, P.: 1992a, 'Process Causality and Asymmetry', Erkenntnis 37, 179–96.
Dowe, P.: 1992b, 'Wesley Salmon's Process Theory of Causality and the Conserved Quantity Theory', Philosophy of Science 59, 195–216.
Dowe, P.: 1993a, 'The Anti-Realism of Costa de Beauregard', Foundations of Physics Letters 6, 469–75.
Dowe, P.: 1993b, 'On the Reduction of Process Causality to Statistical Relations', British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 44, 325–27.
Dowe, P.: 1995a, 'Causality and Conserved Quantities: A Reply to Salmon', Philosophy of Science 62, 321–33.
Dowe, P.: 1995b, 'What's Right and What's Wrong with Transference Theories', Erkenntnis 42, 363–74.
Dowe, P.: 1996, 'Backwards Causation and the Direction of Causal Processes', Mind 105, 227–48.
Ducasse, C.: 1969, Causation and Types of Necessity, Dover, New York.
Earman, J.: 1995, 'Recent Work on Time Travel', in S. Savitt (ed.), Time's Arrow Today, Cambridge University Press, NY, pp. 268–310.
Fair, D.: 1979, 'Causation and the Flow of Energy', Erkenntnis 14, 219–50.
Fine, A.: 1986, The Shaky Game: Einstein, Realism and the Quantum Theory, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Freedman, S. and J. Clauser: 1972, 'Experimental Test of Local Hidden-Variable Theories', Physical Review Letters 28, 938–941.
Garrett, A.: 1990, 'Bell's Theorem and Bayes''</del> Theorem'</del>, Foundations of Physics 20, 1475–1512.
Görnitz, T. and C. F. von Weizsäcker: 1988, 'Copenhagen and Transactional Interpretations', International Journal of Theoretical Physics 27, 237–50.
Groenewold, H.: 1987, 'Bilocality', Physics Reports 155, 251–62.
Hausman, D.: 1984, 'Causal Priority', Nous 18, 261–79.
Jackson, F.: 1994, 'Armchair Metaphysics', in M. Michael, and J. O'Leary-Hawthorne (eds.), pp, 23–42.
Mackie, J.: 1985, Logic and Knowledge - Selected Papers, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Millikan, R.: 1989, 'In Defense of Proper Functions', Philosophy of Science 56, 288–302.
Neander, K.: 1991, 'Functions as Selected Effects: The Conceptual Analyst's Defense', Philosophy of Science 58, 168–84.
Papineau, D.: 1993, 'Can We Reduce Causal Direction to Probabilities', Proc. Phil. Sci. Assoc. 2, 238–52.
Price, H.: 1992, 'Agency and Causal Asymmetry', Mind 101, 501–20.
Price, H.: 1993, 'The Direction of Causation: Ramsey's Ultimate Contingency', Proc. Phil. Sci. Assoc. 2, 253–67.
Price, H.: 1994, 'A Neglected Route to Realism about Quantum Mechanics', Mind 103, 303–36.
Reichenbach, H.: 1956, The Direction of Time, University of California Press, Berkeley.
Simon, W.: 1984, Scientific Explanation and the Causal Structure of the World, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Salmon, W.: 1994, 'Causality without Counterfactuals', Philosophy of Science 61, 297–312.
Stapp, H.: 1975, 'Bell's Theorem and World Process', Nuovo Cimento 29B, 271.
Strawson, P.: 1992, Analysis and Metaphysics, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Sutherland, R.: 1983, 'Bell's Theorem and Backwards-In-Time Causality', International Journal of Theoretical Physics 22, 377–84.
Sutherland, R.: 1985, 'A Corollary to Bell's Theorem', Nuovo Cimento 88B,114–18.
Wolf, F.: 1989a, 'On the Quantum Theory of Subjective Antedating', Journal of Theoretical Biology 136, 13–9.
Wolf, F.: 1989b, Taking the Quantum Leap, Revised edition, Harper and Row, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dowe, P. A Defense of Backwards in Time Causation Models in Quantum Mechanics. Synthese 112, 233–246 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004932911141
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004932911141