The end of mystery

Journal article

Baron, Sam and Colyvan, Mark. (2019). The end of mystery. American Philosophical Quarterly. 56(3), pp. 247-264. https://doi.org/10.2307/48570634
AuthorsBaron, Sam and Colyvan, Mark
Abstract

Tim travels back in time and tries to kill his grandfather before his father was born. Tim fails. But why? Lewis’s response was to cite “coincidences”: Tim is the unlucky subject of gun jammings, banana peels, sudden changes of heart, and so on. A number of challenges have been raised against Lewis’s response. The latest of these focuses on explanation. This paper diagnoses the source of this new disgruntlement and offers an alternative explanation for Tim’s failure, one that Lewis would not have liked. The explanation is an obvious one but controversial, so it is defended against all the objections that can be mustered.

Keywordstime; time travel; explanation; logic; paradox
Year2019
JournalAmerican Philosophical Quarterly
Journal citation56 (3), pp. 247-264
PublisherUniversity of Illinois Press
ISSN0003-0481
2152-1123
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.2307/48570634
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85069838874
Open accessPublished as green open access
Page range247-264
Author's accepted manuscript
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All rights reserved
File Access Level
Open
Publisher's version
License
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File Access Level
Controlled
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online01 Jul 2019
Publication process dates
Deposited20 Jan 2023
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