PB2A

I was interested in learning more about the possibility of time travel, since I have recently been watching movies and TV shows which involve this concept. When I searched for academic articles describing the concept of time travel, I came across an article titled "The Principal Paradox of Time Travel" and decided that this would be a good way to learn more about the idea of time travel and what would prevent it from being possible. The author of the article wrote it with the purpose of explaining to his audience of fellow scientists why he thinks that the previously accepted idea of the time travel paradox preventing time travel to the past from even being possible is actually untrue. He believes that time travel to the past is possible and that the paradox instead explains why the traveller is unable to change anything of importance in their lives, even if they do travel back in time. The article includes the typical convention of scholarly articles to begin with an abstract, explaining why the author chose to write the article and what they are going to discuss throughout it. This is followed by an introduction, which defines "time travel" and makes use of evidence from other famous scientists--like Stephen Hawking--to explain the author's ideas about whether or not time travel to the past is logically possible. The next few sections of the article discuss what the paradox of time travel is--"if something could travel to an earlier time and prevent the very departure by virtue of which it can stop its own departure to that earlier time"--and how it poses a problem, as well as some potential ways to resolve the issue. The article concludes with a section explaining how this is relevant and important in the "global" context, thus answering the "So what? Who cares?" questions which we have learned are crucial to writing any good paper.

The author makes use of various diagrams to help his readers understand any scientific concepts he is discussing or facts he is presenting through logos that may be difficult for the audience to understand. The article also includes footnotes used to cite any sources that the author uses as evidence to help support his argument and provide him with credibility through ethos. A very important part of this article is the author's use of a scenario in order to explain the possibilities and constraints of time travel to the past and the paradox associated with it. The author uses the idea created by scientist David Lewis, "which is considered by many philosophers as providing the solution to the Principal Paradox." Lewis describes a time-traveller named Tim who goes back to the past in order to attempt to shoot and kill his own grandfather. The author makes use of this concept as a way to exemplify the reasons as to why one can go to the past but not have the ability to logically be able to change anything in the past that has to do with their own future. Thus, Tim could travel back in time and encounter his grandfather, but would be unable to kill him at any time before Tim's father was conceived. Tim would be able to seriously injure his grandfather and could potentially even manage to shoot him multiple times. Yet, every time, there would always be something preventing the shot from being fatal, thus clearly supporting the author's theory of time travel to the past and its paradox.

Riggs, Peter J. "The Principal Paradox Of Time Travel." Ratio 10.1 (1997): 48. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.