z-logo
Premium
C‐theories of time: On the adirectionality of time
Author(s) -
Farr Matt
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
philosophy compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.973
H-Index - 25
ISSN - 1747-9991
DOI - 10.1111/phc3.12714
Subject(s) - statement (logic) , universe , epistemology , set (abstract data type) , metric expansion of space , b theory of time , computer science , philosophy , theoretical physics , physics , astrophysics , cosmology , dark energy , programming language
‘The universe is expanding, not contracting’. Many statements of this form appear unambiguously true; after all, the discovery of the universe's expansion is one of the great triumphs of empirical science. However, the statement is time‐directed: the universe expands towards what we call the future; it contracts towards the past. If we deny that time has a direction, should we also deny that the universe is really expanding? This article draws together and discusses what I call ‘C‐theories’ of time—in short, philosophical positions that hold time lacks a direction—from different areas of the literature. I set out the various motivations, aims and problems for C‐theories, and outline different versions of antirealism about the direction of time.

This content is not available in your region!

Continue researching here.

Having issues? You can contact us here