Time and Causality in General Relativity

Abstract

The so-called chronological and causal structure of spece-time is discussed within the conceptual framework of general relativity . Leibniz with his causal theory of time could be regarded as a forerunner of the present views on time and causality inspired by Einstein's theory. In Leibniz's opinion, time is of a relational character, and relations in question can be reduced to the "order of causality". In the early relativistic period many authors attempted at clarifying this problem by constructing various axiomatizations of the theory of relativity . Such axiomatizations proposed by Bobb, Carnap, Reichenbach and Mehlberg are brefly presented. A new line of research emerged out of global analyses of particular solutions to Einstein's equations /the Godel solution played here an important role/. It turned out that previous axiomatizations a priori eliminated many interesting situations. These studies led to the formulation of the present chronological and causal structures of space- time. I t is argued that they can be consistently interpreted in the spirit of the structuralistic view.