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
- 8 Time for Pancakes: Time Reversal and Ontology
- 9 Insights into Quantum Time Reversal from the Classical Schrödinger Equation
- 10 Saving the Appearances: The Direction of Time and Time-Reversal Invariance
- Part IV The Whole Universe
- Index
- References
10 - Saving the Appearances: The Direction of Time and Time-Reversal Invariance
from Part III - The Arrow of Time and Time-Reversal Invariance
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
- 8 Time for Pancakes: Time Reversal and Ontology
- 9 Insights into Quantum Time Reversal from the Classical Schrödinger Equation
- 10 Saving the Appearances: The Direction of Time and Time-Reversal Invariance
- Part IV The Whole Universe
- Index
- References
Summary
In this chapter, I endorse phenomenal conservatism as an epistemic theory of justification and I defend that we are justified in believing that the direction of time is primitive because it seems to us to be primitive, unless there were defeaters for having such a belief. This is what I call the “Argument From Appearances.” I then analyse one of the most powerful arguments against this argument, the “Time-Reversal Argument,” and claim that it relies on supplementary premises that can be challenged. Therefore, it is rendered harmless and does not qualify as a solid defeater against the Argument from Appearances.
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Arrow of TimeFrom Local Systems to the Whole Universe, pp. 198 - 222Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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