Some epistemic questions of cosmology

TL;DR

This paper critically examines fundamental epistemic issues in modern cosmology, distinguishing scientific from speculative aspects, and evaluates the epistemic validity of key cosmological paradigms.

Contribution

It provides a philosophical analysis of the epistemic status of modern cosmological concepts and paradigms, highlighting unresolved problems and the influence of mythological thinking.

Findings

Identifies unresolved foundational problems in cosmology.

Distinguishes scientific features from mythological elements in cosmological theories.

Evaluates the epistemic merits of principal cosmological paradigms.

Abstract

We discuss a number of fundamental aspects of modern cosmological concepts, from the phenomenological, observational, theoretical and epistemic points of view. We argue that the modern cosmology, despite a great advent, in particular in the observational sector, is yet to solve important problems, posed already by the classical times. In particular the stress is put on discerning the scientific features of modern cosmological paradigms from the more speculative ones, with the latter immersed in some aspects deeply into mythological world picture. We finally discuss the principal paradigms, which are present in the modern cosmological studies and evaluate their epistemic merits. KEY WORDS: cosmology, epistemology, methodology, mythology, philosophy of science