Causation and the Time-Asymmetry of Knowledge

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21293549
AutoresTroy Blanchard (0000-0001-5002-7517, University of Cologne, autor correspondente)
Ano2024
Volume102
Fascículo4
Páginas959-977
Data de publicação2024-10-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAustralasian Journal of Philosophy (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0004-8402 • E-ISSN: 1470-6828
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00048402.2024.2328629
OpenAlexW4393129570
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas16

This paper argues that the knowledge asymmetry (the fact that we know more about the past than the future) can be explained as a consequence of the causal Markov condition. The causal Markov condition implies that causes of a common effect are generally statistically independent, whereas effects of a common cause are generally correlated. I show that together with certain facts about the physics of our world, the statistical independence of causes severely limits our ability to predict the future, whereas correlations between joint effects make it so that no such limitation holds in the reverse temporal direction. In so far as the fact that our world conforms to the causal Markov condition can itself be explained in terms of the initial conditions of the universe, my view is compatible with Albert’s well-known account of the origins of temporal asymmetries, but also provides a more illuminating way to derive the knowledge asymmetry from those initial conditions

Asymmetry · Causation · Epistemology · Physics · Quantum mechanics · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Philosophy and Theoretical Science