Against radical relationalism: in defense of the ordinal structure of time

Some authors in the quantum gravity community endorse, explicitly or implicitly, a radical relationalist view of time which states that the ordinal structure of time is not needed even in our classical theories, especially in general relativity. In this article I analyze this position and the argume...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Mozota Frauca, Álvaro|||0000-0002-7715-0563
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/430455
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/430455
https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10701-025-00850-5
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Philosophy of time
Relationalism
General relativity
Quantum gravity
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Física::Relativitat
Descripción
Sumario:Some authors in the quantum gravity community endorse, explicitly or implicitly, a radical relationalist view of time which states that the ordinal structure of time is not needed even in our classical theories, especially in general relativity. In this article I analyze this position and the arguments supporting it, and I argue that there are some serious concerns with some of the radical relationalists’ arguments which make it an unattractive position. In this sense, I conclude that the chrono-ordinal structures of our theories play important theoretical and explanatory roles and that they can be taken to be part of the empirical content of our theories.