Present records of the Past Hypothesis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10813893 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Athamos Stradis (0000-0002-1836-7922, King's College London, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 203 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Publication date | 2024-06-13 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Synthese (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0039-7857 • E-ISSN: 1573-0964 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11229-024-04643-7 |
| OpenAlex | W4399652866 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 32 |
A striking feature of our world is that we only seem to have records of the past. To explain this ‘record asymmetry’, Albert and Loewer claim that the Past Hypothesis induces a narrow probability density over the world’s possible past macrohistories, but not its future macrohistories. Because we’re indirectly acquainted with this low-entropy initial macrostate, our observations of records allow us to exploit the associated narrow density to infer the past. I will argue that Albert and Loewer cannot make sense of why this probabilistic structure exists without falling back on the very records they wish to explain. To avoid this circularity, I offer an alternative account: the ‘fork asymmetry’ explains the record asymmetry, and this in turn explains the narrow density—not vice versa
Asymmetry · Epistemology · Metaphysics · Philosophy of language · Philosophy of science · Physics · Probabilistic logic · Quantum mechanics · History · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science
The Probability Map of the Universe
Time and Chance
Causation, Prediction, and Search
Two accounts of laws and time
The Direction of Time
The Encyclopedia of philosophy
The Mentaculus Vision
Philosophical Problems of Space and Time
Causation and the Time-Asymmetry of Knowledge
Flat Physicalism
The “Past Hypothesis”
Determinism and Chance
Memory, the fork asymmetry, and the initial state
Counterfactuals and the Past Hypothesis
Thermodynamic Irreversibility
An Attempt to Add a Little Direction to “The Problem of the Direction of Time”
Asymmetries in Time
The Second Law of Thermodynamics and the Psychological Arrow of Time
Causal Asymmetry
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |