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The Principal Paradox of Time Travel
Author(s) -
Riggs Peter J.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
ratio
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.475
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1467-9329
pISSN - 0034-0006
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9329.00026
Subject(s) - principal (computer security) , contradiction , time travel , action (physics) , nothing , statement (logic) , epistemology , class (philosophy) , philosophy , economics , computer science , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , operating system
Most arguments against the possibility of time travel use the same old, familiar objection: If I could travel back in time, then I could kill my earlier (i.e. younger) self. Since I do exist such an action would result in a contradiction. Therefore time travel is impossible. This is a statement of the Principal Paradox of Time Travel. Some philosophers have argued that such actions as attempting to kill one’s earlier self would always fail and that there is nothing especially strange about such failures. Despite these arguments, the problem generally is not viewed as being solved in favour of time travel. The above objection to time travel is also used to dismiss a particular class of cosmological models as being unphysical. This paper provides a solution to the Principal Paradox by exploring both the logical and causal implications of time travel.