Modern Cosmology: Assumptions and Limits

TL;DR

This paper critically examines how assumptions in modern cosmology influence our understanding of the universe, highlighting philosophical implications and the inherent limits of observational and experimental methods.

Contribution

It offers a philosophical analysis of the foundational assumptions in cosmology and discusses their impact on the scientific worldview and its limitations.

Findings

Cosmological assumptions shape our understanding of the universe.

Observational and experimental constraints limit cosmological knowledge.

Philosophical reflection is essential in understanding cosmological models.

Abstract

Physical cosmology tries to understand the Universe at large with its origin and evolution. Observational and experimental situations in cosmology do not allow us to proceed purely based on the empirical means. We examine in which sense our cosmological assumptions in fact have shaped our current cosmological worldview with consequent inevitable limits. Cosmology, as other branches of science and knowledge, is a construct of human imagination reflecting the popular belief system of the era. The question at issue deserves further philosophic discussions. In Whitehead's words, "philosophy, in one of its functions, is the critic of cosmologies". (Whitehead 1925)