Asymmetric Nature of Time

Thisopen accessmonographoffersa detailed study and a systematic defense ofakeyintuitionwe typically have, as human beings, with respect tothe nature of time:the intuition thatthe future is open, whereas the past is fixed. For example, whereas it seems unsettled whether there will be a fourth world war, it is settled that there was a first world war. Thebookcontributes, in particular,three major and original insights. First, itprovidesa coherent, non-metaphorical, and metaphysically illuminating elucidation of the intuition. Second, it determines which model of the temporal structure of the world is most appropriate to accommodate the intuition, and settles on a specific version of the Growing Block Theory of time (GBT). Third, itputs forwarda naturalistic foundationforGBT, by exploiting recent results of our best physics (viz. General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, and Quantum Gravity). Three main challenges are addressed: the dismissal of temporal asymmetries as non-fundamental phenomena only (e.g., thermodynamic or causal phenomena), the epistemic objection against GBT, and the apparent tension between GBT and relativistic physics.It is arguedthat the asymmetry between the open future and the fixed past must be grounded in the temporal structure of the world, and that this is neither precluded by our epistemic device, nor bythe latestapproaches to Quantum Gravity (e.g., the Causal Set Theory). Aimingat reconciling time as we find it in ordinary experience and time as physics describes it, thisinnovativebookwill raise the interest of both academic researchers andgraduate students working on the philosophy of time. More generally, itpresents contents of interest for all metaphysicians andnon-dogmatic philosophers of physics. This is an open access book.