Is the past still “real” in a physical sense, or is its existence dependent on observation? (Time, determinism, philosophy of physics)
Hi everyone,
I’ve been thinking about a question regarding the nature of time that seems to sit somewhere between philosophy of physics and metaphysics, and I’d appreciate some guidance on how this is treated in existing literature.
A common way of speaking about time is to say that the past “no longer exists.” However, I’m wondering whether this reflects an ontological claim, or simply a limitation of human cognition (i.e., our inability to access or reconstruct past states of the universe).
More specifically, suppose we consider a view where every event that occurs leaves a permanent imprint in the structure of reality, even if that imprint becomes physically inaccessible or indistinguishable over time. This seems loosely compatible with physical principles like conservation laws, where nothing is truly lost but rather transformed.
This leads me to a few related philosophical questions:
Ontological status of the past: In contemporary philosophy of time (e.g., presentism vs. eternalism), is there a position that treats past events as still “physically real” even if no observable traces remain? Or does most philosophical work tie existence to observability or causal accessibility?
Epistemic vs. ontological limits: To what extent do philosophers distinguish between the past not existing and the past being in principle inaccessible? Are there frameworks that explicitly address this distinction?
Determinism and the openness of the future: If the past is fixed and irreversible, but the future is described probabilistically (as in some interpretations of physics), how is the boundary between determinism and free will typically understood in philosophy? Is this tension addressed differently depending on one’s interpretation of time?
Perception of time: Is the human experience of being “trapped in the present” generally treated as an evolutionary/psychological feature, or as something that has deeper philosophical implications for how we model reality?
If there are specific philosophers, theories, or papers (e.g., on eternalism, the block universe, or the arrow of time) that directly engage with these issues, I’d really appreciate references.
Thanks in advance