Philosophy Bites

Huw Price on Backward Causation

Jul 15, 2012
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INSIGHT

Causation's Origin

  • Causation's one-way direction is puzzling, as fundamental physics is time-symmetric.
  • Philosophers have questioned how causation, seemingly fundamental, can arise from physics if physics lacks inherent temporal direction.
INSIGHT

Time Symmetry in Physics

  • Newtonian physics, like billiard balls colliding, is time-symmetric; videos played backward or forward look the same.
  • This raises the question: Where does our perception of forward-directed causation come from if not from physics?
INSIGHT

Agency and Causation

  • Our subjective view matters, not as passive observers, but as agents who intervene.
  • Our ability to influence the future shapes our sense of causal direction, which could be different for agents with opposite temporal orientations.
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