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    Backward causation violates the principle of the fixity o... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Both tossing the coin and preventing the toss may backwardly cause Houdini's earlier behavior

    Backward causation violates the principle of the fixity of the past: a later event cannot alter what is already causally closed (Dummett notwithstanding).

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    1 reason for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.The past is causally closed: once events occur, no subsequent intervention can modify their intrinsic properties or actual occurrence.
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    • 2.Backward causation requires later events to change past facts, which contradicts the logical principle that what has occurred cannot become un-occurred.
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    • 3.Accepting backward causation undermines our ability to reason about counterfactuals and modal claims, destabilizing epistemic foundations.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.The fixity of the past assumes a B-theory rejection; on eternalism, all moments exist equally, making temporal direction metaphysically arbitrary.
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    • 2.Backward causation need not alter past facts—only establish causal relations across time; changing relations differs from changing intrinsic properties.
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    • 3.Quantum mechanics suggests non-local correlations may violate classical causal ordering, empirically challenging fixity assumptions.
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    Related

    Accepting backward causation undermines our ability to reason about counterfactu...Backward causation need not alter past facts—only establish causal relations acr...Backward causation requires later events to change past facts, which contradicts...Both tossing the coin and preventing the toss may backwardly cause Houdini's ear...
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    Quantum mechanics suggests non-local correlations may violate classical causal o...The fixity of the past assumes a B-theory rejection; on eternalism, all moments ...The past is causally closed: once events occur, no subsequent intervention can m...

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    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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