Constraints on Data in Worlds with Closed Timelike Curves.

It is claimed that unacceptable constraints on initial data are imposed by certain responses to paradoxes that threaten time travel, closed timelike curves (CTCs) and other backwards causation hypotheses. In this paper I argue against the following claims: to say "contradictions are impossible so so...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophy of Science Vol. 74; no. 5; pp. 724 - 736
Main Author: Dowe, Phil
Format: Article
Published: Cambridge University Press Dec2007
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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Summary:It is claimed that unacceptable constraints on initial data are imposed by certain responses to paradoxes that threaten time travel, closed timelike curves (CTCs) and other backwards causation hypotheses. In this paper I argue against the following claims: to say "contradictions are impossible so something must prevent the paradox" commits in general to constraints on initial data, that for fixed point dynamics so-called grey state solutions explain why contradictions do not arise, and the latter have been proved to avoid constraints on initial data.