Time dilation and rates of the passage of time

Abstract

Debate over the issue of the rate of the passage of time has been persisting in the academic literature for decades without substantial progress. The common explanations of the (empirically well-confirmed) time dilation effects from Special and General Relativity theories requires that there is a physical passage of time which occurs at varying rates. Yet, these theories do not formally posit any passage of time. It is shown that the relativistic time dilation effects strongly imply that the passage of time is not a physical phenomenon.