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A Rigorous Proof of Determinism Derived from the Special Theory of Relativity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

C. W. Rietdijk
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Abstract

A proof is given that there does not exist an event, that is not already in the past for some possible distant observer at the (our) moment that the latter is “now” for us. Such event is as “legally” past for that distant observer as is the moment five minutes ago on the sun for us (irrespective of the circumstance that the light of the sun cannot reach us in a period of five minutes). Only an extreme positivism: “that which cannot yet be observed does not yet exist”, can possibly withstand the conclusion concerned. Therefore, there is determinism, also in micro-physics.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , December 1966 , pp. 341 - 344
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1966

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References

[1] Eddington, A. S., Space, Time and Gravitation.Google Scholar
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