Closed Time and Local Time: A Reply to Dowe

Abstract

In his contribution to this issue, "A and B Theories of Closed Time", Phil Dowe argues that A-and B-theories of time are equally compatible with closed time, though it is commonly supposed that only B-theories are compatible with it. With some reservations to be noted below I agree with Dowe's general conclusion, but in the course of his argument there are a number of false statements and misrepresentations of detail that require comment. I will not be able to deal with all of them in this brief note. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________Kurt Gödel, quite famously, found a solution to the field equations of the general theory or relativity (GTR) that had odd and perhaps even disquieting properties. In his 1949 paper introducing what we now call Gödel spacetime, G, he listed nine of its properties, and I will highlight four as of particular relevance to the discussion here:(4) The totality of time-like and null vectors can be divided into +