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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 10: The role of the present in spacetime theories

AGPhil 10.1: Vortrag

Freitag, 20. März 2015, 11:15–11:45, A 060

Trajectory, Eigenzeit and Lapse of Time — •Thorben Petersen — Department of Philosophy, University of Bremen

Ever since its discovery, the theory of relativity has intrigued philosophers because of its implications for the metaphysics of time and, in particular, as regards the question whether time does pass. The goal is to develop a conception of the so-called passage or lapse of time, which is (i) properly relativistic (i.e. which takes spacetime to be a four-dimensional entity and acknowledges the relativity of simultaneity) but (ii) does not fall back on the counterintuitive though prevalent idea that this phenomenon is an illusion or mere construction of our minds. In this talk, I show that these criteria can be met if we accept that the lapse of time is grounded, locally, in how the development of integral wholes (such as an organism) is represented. To this end, I draw attention to the (usually overlooked) notion of parameter time. In particular, I argue that integral wholes follow trajectories in spacetime, which can be operationalized by co-moving clocks, measuring the Eigenzeit of these trajectories. To say that a certain integral whole develops, then, is to say that the whole is located, at different moments of its Eigenzeit, at different points (or parts) of its trajectory.