Presentism meets black holes

Presentism is, roughly, the metaphysical doctrine that maintains that whatever exists, exists in the present. The compatibility of presentism with the theories of special and general relativity was much debated in recent years. It has been argued that at least some versions of presentism are consist...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Romero, Gustavo Esteban, Pérez, Daniel Omar
Formato: Articulo Preprint
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/98867
https://ri.conicet.gov.ar/11336/23247
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13194-014-0085-6
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Sumario:Presentism is, roughly, the metaphysical doctrine that maintains that whatever exists, exists in the present. The compatibility of presentism with the theories of special and general relativity was much debated in recent years. It has been argued that at least some versions of presentism are consistent with time-orientable models of general relativity. In this paper we confront the thesis of presentism with relativistic physics, in the strong gravitational limit where black holes are formed. We conclude that the presentist position is at odds with the existence of black holes and other compact objects in the universe. A revision of the thesis is necessary, if it is intended to be consistent with the current scientific view of the universe.