Philosophy of Science 70 (3):574-589 (2003)
Authors |
|
Abstract |
In this paper I consider two objections raised by Nick Smith (1997) to an argument against the probability of time travel given by Paul Horwich (1995, 1987). Horwich argues that time travel leads to inexplicable and improbable coincidences. I argue that one of Smith's objections fails, but that another is correct. I also consider an instructive way to defend Horwich's argument against the second of Smith's objections, but show that it too fails. I conclude that unless there is something faulty in the conception of explanation implicit in Horwich's argument, time travel presents us with nothing that is inexplicable.
|
Keywords | 440100 Philosophy Philosophy |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
DOI | 10.1086/376926 |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
View all 14 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
On Predictions in Retro-Causal Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics.Joseph Berkovitz - 2008 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 39 (4):709-735.
Constraints on Data in Worlds with Closed Timelike Curves.Phil Dowe - 2007 - Philosophy of Science 74 (5):724–735.
Time Travel and Coincidence-Free Local Dynamical Theories.Giuliano Torrengo - forthcoming - Synthese (11):4835-4846.
On Time, Causation and Explanation in the Causally Symmetric Bohmian Model of Quantum Mechanics.Joseph Berkovitz - 2017 - In Christophe Bouton & Philippe Huneman (eds.), Time of Nature and the Nature of Time. Springer International Publishing. pp. 139-172.
How to Know That Time Travel Is Unlikely Without Knowing Why.Katrina Elliott - 2019 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 100 (1):90-113.
Similar books and articles
Paradoxes and Hypodoxes of Time Travel.Peter Eldridge-Smith - 2007 - In Jan Lloyd Jones, Paul Campbell & Peter Wylie (eds.), Art and Time. Australian Scholarly Publishing. pp. 172--189.
Bananas Enough for Time Travel?Nicholas J. J. Smith - 1997 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 48 (3):363-389.
Why Would Time Travelers Try to Kill Their Younger Selves?Nicholas J. J. Smith - 2005 - The Monist 88 (3):388-395.
Time Travel, Coincidences and Counterfactuals.Theodore Sider - 2002 - Philosophical Studies 110 (2):115 - 138.
No Suicide for Presentists: A Response to Hales.Jimmy Alfonso Licon - 2011 - Logos and Episteme 2 (3):455-464.
The Paradoxes of Time Travel.Ken Perszyk & Nicholas J. J. Smith - 2001 - In Public lecture at Te Papa (National Museum of New Zealand).
Analytics
Added to PP index
2009-01-28
Total views
245 ( #44,157 of 2,497,754 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
6 ( #118,641 of 2,497,754 )
2009-01-28
Total views
245 ( #44,157 of 2,497,754 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
6 ( #118,641 of 2,497,754 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads