Can the Future Influence the Past? A Philosophical Analysis of Retrocausality

Yi Jiang

doi:10.47297/wspjhcWSP2515-469903.20230702

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Can the Future Influence the Past? A Philosophical Analysis of Retrocausality

7卷第2期

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Can the Future Influence the Past? A Philosophical Analysis of Retrocausality
Can the Future Influence the Past? A Philosophical Analysis of Retrocausality
School of Philosophy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China
2023年7卷第2期页码：30-38
纸质出版日期： 2023-11-27 ，
DOI：10.47297/wspjhcWSP2515-469903.20230702
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(2023). Can the Future Influence the Past? A Philosophical Analysis of Retrocausality. 认知科学（英文版）, 7(2), 30-38.

Yi Jiang.Can the Future Influence the Past? A Philosophical Analysis of Retrocausality[J].Journal of Human Cognition,2023,07(02):30-38.
(2023). Can the Future Influence the Past? A Philosophical Analysis of Retrocausality. 认知科学（英文版）, 7(2), 30-38. DOI： 10.47297/wspjhcWSP2515-469903.20230702.

Yi Jiang.Can the Future Influence the Past? A Philosophical Analysis of Retrocausality[J].Journal of Human Cognition,2023,07(02):30-38. DOI： 10.47297/wspjhcWSP2515-469903.20230702.

摘要

Abstract

Huw Price and Ken Wharton claimed recently in their paper published in The Conversation that quantum mechanics shows that the future can influence the past. According to their paper

many scientists are convinced about it. However

there is still something mystical for philosophers. The first is about the definition of retrocausality and its philosophical relation to causality. Second

it is concerned with understanding the relationship between cause and effect

not only scientifically but also logically. In this talk

I will answer the two questions by analyzing the concept of temporality and by examining the counterfactual and overdetermination. I found a tension in understanding the concept of necessity in the physical and logical sense. Finally

I will argue that the time reversal asymmetry does not imply retrocausality

and the phenomenon of retrocausality does not exist in reality but only in logic.

关键词

Keywords

Causality; RetrocausalityRetrocausalityQuantum MechanicsCounterfactualsTime-reversal Asymmetry

references

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Black, Max. (1956). Why Cannot an Effect Precede its Cause? Analysis, 16(3).

Carlip, Steven. (2001). Quantum Gravity: a Progress Report. Reports on Progress in Physics, 64(2).

Einstein, Albert, Max Born, Hedwig Born. (1971). The Born–Einstein letters: correspondence between Albert Einstein and Max and Hedwig Born from 1916–1955, with commentaries by Max Born, New York: Macmillan.

Falk, Dan. (2016). A Debate Over the Physics of Time, Quanta Magazine, https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-debate-over-the-physics-of-time-20160719/ [2024-3-1].

Faye, Jan. (2021). Backward Causation, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2021/entries/causation-backwards [2024-3-1].

Laloe, Franck. (2012). Do We Really Understand Quantum Mechanics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lewis, David. (1973). Counterfactuals, Oxford: Blackwell.

Lopez, C. (2021). Three facets of time-reversal symmetry, European Journal for Philosophy of Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13194-021-00355-8 [2024-3-1].

Maudlin, T. (2002). Remarks on the passing of time. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 102.

Price, Huw. (2012). Does time-symmetry imply retrocausality? How the quantum world says 'Maybe'? Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 43(2).

Procopio, L., A. Moqanaki, & M. Araújo, et al. (2015). Experimental superposition of orders of quantum gates, Nat Commun 6, https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8913 [2024-3-1].

Sawesi, S., M. Rashrash & O. Dammann. (2022). The Representation of Causality and Causation with Ontologies: A Systematic Literature Review, Online J Public Health Inform, https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v14i1.12577 [2024-3-1].

Sider, Theodore. (1999). Presentism and Ontological Commitment. The Journal of Philosophy, 96(7).

Wharton, Ken & Huw Price. (2016). To Understand Your Past, Look to Your Future, Nautilus, https://nautil.us/to-understand-your-past-look-to-your-future-235937/?_sp=d4c87da5-312a-4915-a656-619163d55dfd.1710101154421 [2024-3-1].

Wharton, Ken & Huw Price. (2023). Quantum mechanics: how the future might influence the past, The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/quantum-mechanics-how-the-future-might-influence-the-past-199426 [2024-3-1].

Wharton, Kenneth. (2018). A New Class of Retrocausal Models, Quantum Physics, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1805.09731 [2024-3-1].

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