Many consider the apparent disappearance of time and change in quantum gravity the main metaphysical challenge since it seems to lead to a form of Parmenidean view according to which the physical world simply is, nothing changes, moves, becomes, happens. In this paper, I argue that the main metaphysical challenge of Rovelli’s philosophical view of loop quantum gravity is to lead exactly to the opposite view, namely, a form of Heraclitean view, or rather, of radical process metaphysics according to which there is becoming (process, change, event) but not being (substance, stasis, thing). However, this does not entail that time is real. Fundamentally, time does not exist. I show how Rovelli’s understanding of loop quantum gravity supports the view that there is change without time, so that the physical world can be timeless yet ever-changing. I conclude by arguing that it is such a process-oriented conception that constitutes the revolutionary metaphysical challenge and philosophical significance of loop quantum gravity, while the alleged Parmenidean view turns out to be nothing but the endpoint of a long-standing metaphysical orthodoxy.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Thesis
Kochiras, Hylarie;
(2008)
Force, Matter, and Metaphysics in Newton's Natural Philosophy
(/isis/citation/CBB001561168/)
Book
William Demopoulos;
(2022)
On Theories: Logical Empiricism and the Methodology of Modern Physics
(/isis/citation/CBB978762409/)
Article
Cristian Soto;
Diego Romero-Maltrana;
(2020)
Local Selective Realism: Shifting from Classical to Quantum Electrodynamics
(/isis/citation/CBB826372933/)
Article
Diederik Aerts;
Massimiliano Sassoli de Bianchi;
Sandro Sozzo;
Tomas Veloz;
(2020)
On the Conceptuality Interpretation of Quantum and Relativity Theories
(/isis/citation/CBB847601811/)
Article
Torretti, Roberto;
(2000)
Gravity as spacetime curvature
(/isis/citation/CBB000110494/)
Article
Joshua Norton;
(2021)
Suppressing Spacetime Emergence
(/isis/citation/CBB068685265/)
Book
Petkov, Vesselin;
(2010)
Minkowski Spacetime: A Hundred Years Later
(/isis/citation/CBB001032084/)
Article
Kochiras, Hylarie;
(2011)
Gravity's Cause and Substance Counting: Contextualizing the Problems
(/isis/citation/CBB001024153/)
Article
Dmitri Levitin;
(2021)
Isaac Newton’s ‘De gravitatione et aequipondio fluidorum’: its purpose in historical context
(/isis/citation/CBB857612261/)
Article
Patrick J. Connolly;
(2021)
Causation and Gravitation in George Cheyne's Newtonian Natural Philosophy
(/isis/citation/CBB381679846/)
Article
Andrew Janiak;
(2021)
Émilie Du Châtelet’s Break from the French Newtonians
(/isis/citation/CBB338553699/)
Book
Sandbothe, Mike;
(2001)
The Temporalization of Time: Basic Tendencies in Modern Debate on Time in Philosophy of Science
(/isis/citation/CBB000410589/)
Book
Ariew, Roger;
(2011)
Descartes among the Scholastics
(/isis/citation/CBB001500336/)
Article
Eduardo Salles de Oliveira Barra;
Ricardo Batista dos Santos;
(2017)
Duhem’s Analysis of Newtonian Method and the Logical Priority of Physics over Metaphysics
(/isis/citation/CBB541274680/)
Article
Ducheyne, Steffen;
(2011)
Newton on Action at a Distance and the Cause of Gravity
(/isis/citation/CBB001024151/)
Book
Morris, Richard;
(2002)
The Big Questions: Probing the Promise and Limits of Science
(/isis/citation/CBB000201900/)
Book
Yuval Dolev;
Michael Roubach;
(2015)
Cosmological and Psychological Time
(/isis/citation/CBB138681811/)
Article
Kochiras, Hylarie;
(2009)
Gravity and Newton's Substance Counting Problem
(/isis/citation/CBB000932501/)
Article
Schliesser, Eric;
(2011)
Newton's Substance Monism, Distant Action, and the Nature of Newton's Empiricism: Discussion of H. Kochiras “Gravity and Newton's Substance Counting Problem”
(/isis/citation/CBB001024152/)
Book
Rosenthal, Sandra B;
(2000)
Time, Continuity, and Indeterminacy: A Pragmatic Engagement with Contemporary Perspectives
(/isis/citation/CBB000410588/)
Be the first to comment!