The goal of this paper is to defend the general tenet that time travelers cannot change the past within B-theoretical models of time, independently of how many temporal dimensions there are. Baron Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 98(1), 129–147 (2017) offered a strong argument intended to reach this general conclusion. However, his argument does not cover a peculiar case, i.e. a B-theoretical one-dimensional model of time that allows for the presence of internal times. Loss Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 96, 1–11 (2015) used the latter model to argue that time travelers can change the past within such model. We show a way to debunk Loss’s argument, so that the general tenet about the impossibility of changing the past within B-theoretical models is maintained.

Time Travel and the Immutability of the Past within B-Theoretical Models / G. Andreoletti, G. Torrengo. - In: PHILOSOPHIA. - ISSN 0048-3893. - 47:4(2019), pp. 1011-1021. [10.1007/s11406-018-0028-0]

Time Travel and the Immutability of the Past within B-Theoretical Models

G. Andreoletti
Primo
;
G. Torrengo
Ultimo
2019

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to defend the general tenet that time travelers cannot change the past within B-theoretical models of time, independently of how many temporal dimensions there are. Baron Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 98(1), 129–147 (2017) offered a strong argument intended to reach this general conclusion. However, his argument does not cover a peculiar case, i.e. a B-theoretical one-dimensional model of time that allows for the presence of internal times. Loss Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 96, 1–11 (2015) used the latter model to argue that time travelers can change the past within such model. We show a way to debunk Loss’s argument, so that the general tenet about the impossibility of changing the past within B-theoretical models is maintained.
B-theory; Changing the past; Hyper-time; Time; Time travel; Philosophy
Settore M-FIL/05 - Filosofia e Teoria dei Linguaggi
2019
2-ott-2018
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/624937
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