Closed causal loops and the bilking argument

J. Ismael

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

The most potentially powerful objection to the possibility oftime travel stems from the fact that it can, under the right conditions, give rise to closedcausal loops, and closed causal loops can be turned into self-defeating causal chains;folks killing their infant selves, setting out to destroy the world before they were born,and the like. It used to be thought that such chains present paradoxes; the receivedwisdom nowadays is that they give rise to physical anomalies in the form of inexplicably correlated events. I argue against the received wisdom. I can find nothing in them that argues against the possibility (even, the probability) of time travel.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)305-320
Number of pages16
JournalSynthese
Volume136
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2003

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Philosophy
  • General Social Sciences

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