Book contents
- The Arrow of Time
- The Arrow of Time
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Local Systems
- Part II The Arrow of Time and Philosophical Issues
- Part III The Arrow of Time and Time-Reversal Invariance
- Part IV The Whole Universe
- 11 Following Earman’s Time Direction Heresy: From the Global Arrow of Time to Local Irreversible Processes
- 12 The Seeds of Cosmic Structure, the Black Hole Information Puzzle, and the Entropic Arrow of Time
- 13 Finding Time for Wheeler–DeWitt Cosmology
- Index
- References
11 - Following Earman’s Time Direction Heresy: From the Global Arrow of Time to Local Irreversible Processes
from Part IV - The Whole Universe
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 October 2025
Book contents
- The Arrow of Time
- The Arrow of Time
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Local Systems
- Part II The Arrow of Time and Philosophical Issues
- Part III The Arrow of Time and Time-Reversal Invariance
- Part IV The Whole Universe
- 11 Following Earman’s Time Direction Heresy: From the Global Arrow of Time to Local Irreversible Processes
- 12 The Seeds of Cosmic Structure, the Black Hole Information Puzzle, and the Entropic Arrow of Time
- 13 Finding Time for Wheeler–DeWitt Cosmology
- Index
- References
Summary
In a series of papers published during the last decades, with Mario Castagnino we developed a global and nonentropic approach to the arrow of time that follows John Earman’s “time direction heresy,” according to which the problem of the arrow of time can be addressed in terms of the geometry of space-time, independently of entropic arguments and without appealing to non–time-reversal invariance. The aim of this chapter is to present a review of the global and nonentropic approach to the arrow of time, and to consider some aspects that were not discussed in detail in those original works. In particular, it will be analyzed to what extent the arrow of time can still be defined if the conditions of time-orientability, cosmic time, and time-asymmetry are not satisfied. The role of time-reversal invariance in the present approach will also be discussed. Finally, certain issues about contingency, fundamentality, reducibility, and objectivity will be considered.
Information
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- The Arrow of TimeFrom Local Systems to the Whole Universe, pp. 225 - 249Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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