Abstract
© 2015 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Is time necessary for causation? We argue that, given a counterfactual theory of causation, it is not. We defend this claim by considering cases of counterfactual dependence in quantum mechanics. These cases involve laws of nature that govern entanglement. These laws make possible the evaluation of causal counterfactuals between space-like separated entangled particles. There is, for the proponent of a counterfactual theory of causation, a possible world in which causation but not time exists that can be reached by "stripping out" time from the actual world, leaving (some) quantum mechanical laws intact.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 27-40 |
| Journal | American Philosophical Quarterly |
| Volume | 52 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 2015 |