Causation and the conservation of energy in general relativity

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8398554
AutoresSebastián Murgueitio Ramírez (0000-0003-0035-0150, Princeton University), James Read (0000-0003-2226-0340, University of Oxford), James Alexander Mabyn Read, Andrés Páez (0000-0002-4602-7490, Universidad de los Andes)
Año2023
Volumen77
Número3
Páginas867-894
Fecha de publicación2023-08-17
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0007-0882 • E-ISSN: 1464-3537
EditorialUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/727030
OpenAlexW4385918860
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas46

Consensus in the contemporary philosophical literature has it that conserved quantity\ntheories of causation such as that of Dowe [2000]—according to which causation is to be\nanalysed in terms of the exchange of conserved quantities (e.g., energy)—face damning\nproblems when confronted with contemporary physics, where the notion of conservation\nbecomes delicate. In particular, in general relativity it is often claimed that there simply\nare no conservation laws for (say) total-stress energy. If this claim is correct, it is difficult\nto see how conserved quantity theories of causation could survive. In this article, we\nresist the above consensus and defend conserved quantity theories from this conclusion,\nat least when focusing on the apparent problems posed by general relativity. We argue\nthat this approach to causation can continue to be defended in general relativity, once one\nappreciates (a) the availability of approximate symmetries in generic general relativistic\nspacetimes, and (b) the role of modelling and idealisation in that theory. Given these\npoints, conserved quantity theories of causation must stand or fall on other grounds

Causation · Energy (signal processing · Epistemology · Philosophy of science · Physics · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories · Philosophy · Quantum Mechanics and Applications