The Grandfather Paradox
P1: Time travel is possible only if Tim can go back in time to kill his grandfather.
P2: Tim cannot exist and kill his grandfather.
P3: Tim exists.
Therefore, time travel isn’t possible.
David Lewis aptly creates a story of Tim, a man with a working time machine and a will to kill his grandfather. Lewis showcases that Tim has every capability to kill his grandfather. He has a good shot, hates his grandfather, has the best rifle money can buy, and every other condition would allow him to kill his own grandfather, but one thing remains that makes it contradictory. Although he technically has the capability to, if he did he would cease to exist. Lewis argues that his grandfather caused his father to be born, and
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Both conclusions are true, and for the reasons given (149).” Lewis says that the capability for Tim to kill his grandfather is based on the set of context that you provide to him to say whether or not he can. Lewis goes on to say that he cannot speak Finnish, but he has the capacity to speak Finnish. He both can and cannot speak Finnish. It is the same for Tim killing his grandfather. “Indeed it is compossible with all the facts of the sorts we would ordinarily count as relevant is saying what someone can do. …But his killing grandfather is not compossible with another, more inclusive set of facts (151).”
Lewis would challenge premise 1, as he would say no, he can still go back in time, but the past has already chosen, and would, therefore, be fatalistic, or events are determined and inevitable. Furthermore, he argues that Tim does have the capacity to kill his grandfather in the past anyway, just that he cannot. And that is what Tom has as well, as it would be just as incoherent for Tom to kill Tim’s grandfather before causing Tim’s father to be born. So he challenges the notion that the past is already set in place, and therefore cannot take away the grandfather regardless of who is trying
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