The history of reasoning about time is disseminated with paradoxes and conundra and contemporary physics does not make an exception. Logics in general, and more in particular temporal logics, represent a rigorous formal tool in order to solve or clarify problems of this kind. In what follows we will first explain, from the point of view of philosophical logic, what is a paradox and what should count as a solution for it. After that we will illustrate A.N. Prior's formalization of the traditional paradox of future contingency and determinism. Then we will focus on two modern paradoxes - the twin paradox and the time travel paradox - and show how an adequate temporal logic can help their framing and understanding.

Time of Logics, time of Physics

Carlo Proietti
2017

Abstract

The history of reasoning about time is disseminated with paradoxes and conundra and contemporary physics does not make an exception. Logics in general, and more in particular temporal logics, represent a rigorous formal tool in order to solve or clarify problems of this kind. In what follows we will first explain, from the point of view of philosophical logic, what is a paradox and what should count as a solution for it. After that we will illustrate A.N. Prior's formalization of the traditional paradox of future contingency and determinism. Then we will focus on two modern paradoxes - the twin paradox and the time travel paradox - and show how an adequate temporal logic can help their framing and understanding.
2017
Istituto di linguistica computazionale "Antonio Zampolli" - ILC
978-3-319-53723-8
Time travel
relativity
paradoxes
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14243/404008
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