Time and the Metaphysics of Relativity
he present volume is part of a larger project, which is the attempt to draft a T coherent doctrine of divine eternity and God's relationship to time. In my God, l Time, and Eternity, I argued that whether one construes divine eternity in terms of timeless
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PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES SERIES VOLUME 84
Founded by Wilfrid S. Sellars and Keith Lehrer
Editor Keith Lehrer, University ofArizona, Tucson Associate Editor Stewart Cohen, Arizona State University, Tempe Board of Consulting Editors Lynne Rudder Baker, University of Massachusetts 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 .
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SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-94-017-3532-2 (eBook) ISBN 978-90-481-5602-3 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 ofLight
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ix
Preface
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-T
