Time and the Metaphysics of Relativity

292 Pages·2001·11.19 MB·English

by  William Lane Craig (auth.)

TIME AND THE METAPHYSICS OF RELATIVITY
PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES SERIES
VOLUME 84
Founded by Wilfrid S. Sellars and Keith Lehrer
Editor
Keith Lehrer, University ofA rizona, Tucson
Associate Editor
Stewart Cohen, Arizona State University, Tempe
Board of Consulting Editors
Lynne Rudder Baker, University ofM assachusetts at Amherst
Radu Bogdan, Tulane University, New Orleans
Allan Gibbard, University of Michigan
Denise Meyerson, University of Cape Town
Franois Recanati, Ecole Poly technique, Paris
Stuart Silvers, Clemson University
Nicholas D. Smith, Michigan State University
The titles published in this series are listed at the end o/this volume.
TIME AND THE METAPHYSICS
OF RELATIVITY
Edited by
WILLIAM LANE CRAIG
Talbot School of Theology,
Marietta, GA, U.S.A .
•
"
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-90-481-5602-3 ISBN 978-94-017-3532-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-3532-2
Printed on acid-free paper
Ali Rights Reserved
© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2001
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from
the copyright owner
IN MEMORIAM
H. A. LORENTZ
H. E. lVES
GEOFFERY BUILDER
SIMON J. PROKHOVNIK
The Trail ofL ight
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface ix
Chapter 1 The Historical Background of Special Relativity
Chapter 2 Einstein's Special Theory 21
Chapter 3 Time Dilation and Length Contraction 47
Chapter 4 Empirical Confirmation of Special Relativity 65
Chapter 5 Two Relativistic Interpretations 69
Chapter 6 The Classical Concept of Time 105
Chapter 7 The Positivistic Foundations of Relativity Theory 122
Chapter 8 The Elimination of Absolute Time 149
Chapter 9 Absolute Time and Relativistic Time 171
Chapter 10 God's Time and General Relativty 195
Chapter 11 Conclusion 242
Bibliography 243
Subject Index 269
Proper Name Index 273
PREFACE
T
he present volume is part of a larger project, which is the attempt to draft a
coherent doctrine of divine eternity and God's relationship to time. In my God,
Time, and Eternity,l I argued that whether one construes divine eternity in terms of
timelessness or of omnitemporality will depend'''crucially upon one's views about the
objectivity of tensed facts and temporal becoming. If one adopts a tensed, or in
McTaggart's terminology, an A-Theory of time, then a coherent doctrine of divine
eternity requires that one construe God, at least since the moment of creation, to
exist temporally, which implies that divine timelessness can be successfully
maintained only if a tenseless or B-Theory of time is correct. Accordingly in my
companion volumes The Tensed Theory of Time: a Critical Examination and The
Tenseless Theory of Time: a Critical Examination I set for myself. the task of
adjudicating the A- vs. B-Theory of time.2 In the former volume; r examine
arguments for and against the A-Theory of time, and in the latter l' tum to an
examination of arguments for and against the B-Theory. This inquiry tookme into a
study of relativity theory,. its presuppositions and implications. The paucity of
integrative literature dealing with the concept of. God and· relativity theory is
striking. I am convinced that this lack is largely due to the fact that theologians and
philosophers of religion generally do not understand Einstein's theories and so are
reduced to merely parroting what they read in scientific popularizations. The result
is a superficial and uncritical interaction. Moreover, due to the influence of
verificationism, the philosophy of time and space during the past century has been
largely reduced to philosophical reflection on spatio-temporal concepts given by
physics. With the collapse of positivism and the rejuvenation of metaphysics, the
metaphysical foundations of relativity theory,deserve renewed scrutiny. There is
thus, I believe, a need for an accessible, largely non-mathematical, and
philosophically-informed introduction to relativity theory focusing on the concepts
of time contained therein.
I must confess that I was surprised at the conclusions to which this study drove
me. I never suspected that Newton would emerge as one of the two heroes, as it
were, of this book. Newton's poorly understood views on absolute time and space
have been the object of such widespread disdain that I just assumed that they were
indefensible and obsolete. I now. recall with chagrin my attitude when, as a student,
God, Time and Eternity (Dordrecht: KIuwer Academic Publishers, forthcoming). The project is a
natural extension of my previous work on the lealam cosmological argument for a personal Creator of the
universe. See William Lane Craig, The Kalam Cosmological Argument, Library of Philosophy and
Religion (London: Macmillan, 1979); William Lane Craig and Quentin Smith, Theism, Atheism, and Big
Bang Cosmology (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993). The second lealam argument I presented presupposes
the correctness of the A-Theory oftime. The defense of the A-Theory is therefore vital to the argument.
The coherence of the conclusion of the lealam cosmological argument, that there exists a Personal Creator
of the beginning of the universe, reqlliresthat a,coherent doctrine of divine eternity and God's
relationship to time be worked out, thus leading to the concerns of the present project.
2 The Tensed Theory o/Time: a Critical Examination, Synthese Library (Dordrecht: KIuwer Academic
Publishers, forthcoming); The Tenseless Theory 0/ Time: a Critical Examination, Synthese Library
(Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, forthcoming).
x
I first read Richard Swinburne's defense of a basically Newtonian view of time in
his Space and Time3: I was embarrassed for him. I never dreamed that someday I
myself would be driven into Newton's arms. I now see Newton's fundamental
insights into the nature of time as brilliant and enduring in their validity. Of course,
Newton made mistakes; but as John Earman has written, they are "the mistakes of a
genius engaged in a great struggle.,,4 Of Newton it may truly be said that his
failures have a greater luster than even the successes of his critics.s
The other hero of this book, also unexpected, is the great Dutch scientist H. A.
Lorentz, a giant of nineteenth century physics, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in
1901 and is usually remembered as the forerunner to Einstein. As I have become
increasingly familiar with Lorentz's life and works, so have my admiration and
affection for him grown. A true gentleman and scholar, he was Einstein's hero, too;
"in scientific matters I dare revere you as my teacher," Einstein wrote to Lorentz in
1923; "to follow in your footsteps formed the greatest motive of my life.,,6 Lorentz
continued to study, lecture, and converse with Einstein about both the Special and
the General Theory of Relativity, and though he disagreed with Einstein's
interpretation of the mathematical formalism of relativity theory, he always
graciously expressed his appreciation of Einstein's view. Lorentz saw clearly that
the central issue dividing Einstein's and Lorentz's divergent interpretations of the
mathematical core of relativity theory was epistemological in nature; moreover, he
was convinced that Einstein's verifIcationism was untenable and told him as much.
In the course of my research I struggled mightily to avoid taking Lorentz's part in
this debate over the interpretation of relativity theory, but it was in vain: I could find
no plausible escape. I am convinced that Lorentz was correct, and I can only beg
the reader's indulgence to consider with an open mind whether that conclusion does
not follow from my premises.
In this volume I have reproduced a considerable number of figures from
textbooks and discussions of relativity theory. For their permission to reproduce
such figures, I gratefully acknowledge Oxford University Press, Insight Press, MIT
Press, W. H. Freeman and Company, Akademiai Kiado, and HarperCollins UK.
Richard Swinburne, Space and Time (New York: St Martin's Press, 1968).
John Earman, "Who's Afraid of Absolute Space?" Australasian Journal of Philosophy 48 (1970):
317. Earman comments,
"What 1 find especially disturbing about such condemnations of Newton is not the
injustice they do to Newton but rather the fact that they are possible only after an
abdication of philosophical responsibility. In all the philosophical literature with which
I am acquainted, there is precious little attempt to give reasonably clear and precise
answers to the questions which are central to the cluster of philosophical issues which
revolve around Newton's conception of space and time" (Ibid., p. 288).
Cf. the patronizing distinctions made by W.-H. Newton-Smith between "good Newton" and "bad
Newton" (W.-H. Newton-Smith, "Space, Time, and Spacetime: A Philosopher's View," in The Nature of
Time, ed. Raymond Flood and Michael Lockwood (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986), pp. 27-29.
S So Julian B. Barbour, Absolute or Relative Motion?, vol. 1: The Discovery ofD ynamiCS (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1989), p. 629.
6 Albert Einstein to H. A. Lorentz, 15 July 1923, Albert Einstein Archive, Hebrew National and
University Library, Jerusalem, no. 16-552, cited in Jozsef Illy, "Einstein Teaches Lorentz, Lorentz
Teaches Einstein. Their Collaboration in General Relativity, 1913-1920," Archive for History of Exact
Sciences 39 (1989): 281.
xi
The persons who have contributed to the writing of this book by way of
discussion, criticism, and suggestion are too numerous to recall, but I should
especially like to acknowledge my indebtedness to the late Simon J. Prokhovnik and
to Quentin Smith for their many comments on the work as it evolved. I am also
deeply grateful to my wife Jan for her faithful labor in production of the typescript
and to my research assistants Ryan Takenaga and Mike Austin. I should also like to
thank Edward White and the Day Foundation for their generous grant which helped
to fund the production of the camera-ready copy and to Mark Jensen and Jennifer
Jensen for meticulously bringir this book into its fmal form.
Atlanta, Georgia William Lane Craig