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Retrocausation and the Formal Assimilation of Classical Electrodynamics to Newtonian Mechanics: A Reply to Nissim-Sabat's “On Grünbaum and Retrocausation”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Adolf Grünbaum  and
Allen I. Janis
Adolf Grünbaum
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Allen I. Janis
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
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Abstract

Dirac's classical electrodynamics countenances “preaccelerations” of charged particles at a time t as mathematical functions of external forces applied after the time t. These preaccelerations have been interpreted as evidence for physical retrocausation upon assuming that, in electrodynamics no less than in Newton's second law, external forces sustain an asymmetric causal relation to accelerations. And this retrocausal interpretation has just been defended against the critiques in (Grünbaum 1976), (Grünbaum and Janis, 1977 and 1978) by appeal to the formal assimilation of the electrodynamic laws of motion to Newton's second law. It is argued below that this latest defense of the retrocausal interpretation is even more ill-founded than the prior ones in the literature.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 46 , Issue 1 , March 1979 , pp. 136 - 160
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1979

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References

Grünbaum, A. (1976) “Is Preacceleration of Particles in Dirac's Electrodynamics a Case of Backward Causation? The Myth of Retrocausation in Classical Electrodynamics.” Philosophy of Science 43: 165–201; Epistemologia 1(1978): 353–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grünbaum, A. and Janis, A. I. (1977) “Is There Backward Causation in Classical Electrodynamics?” The Journal of Philosophy LXXIV, no. 8: 475–482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grünbaum, A. and Janis, A. I. (1978) “Can the Effect Precede Its Cause in Classical Electrodynamics?” American Journal of Physics 46, no. 4: 337–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herrera, J. C. (1977) “Equation of Motion in Classical Electrodynamics.” Physical Review D 15, No. 2: 453–456. See also the references contained therein for other proposed alternatives to Diracian electrodynamics.Google Scholar
Jackson, J. D. (1975) Classical Electrodynamics, 2nd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar