Is Cosmology a Science?

b b
Jack Oughton
 Context of Quote
• “I suggest that there are no good
reasons to deny cosmology the status
of a proper science. On the other
hand, I also consider it natural, and a
sign of health, that such
foundational questions continue
to be part of the cosmological
discourse.” -Kragh
• Extrascientific developments can and
have influenced the development of a
science
• Extrascientific arguments come from
 Defining Science – My
checklist
• Before I make an argument I must
indicate my definitions. Does
cosmology have these?
• From Latin:Scientia; meaning
knowledge* ☑
• Gathering data ☑
• Analyzing data ☑
• Conducting Experiments with
controllable variables ☐
• Rigorous Peer Review** ☑
• Developing theories and making
predictions ☑
 Scientific Philosophies – is
science a science? What is
science anyway?
• Methodological naturalism :scientific investigation
must adhere to empirical study and independent
verification as a process for properly developing
and evaluating natural explanations for observable
phenomena.
• – The ‘current’ paradigm
• Critical rationalism instead holds that unbiased
observation is not possible and a demarcation
between natural and supernatural explanations is
arbitrary; it instead proposes falsifiability as the
landmark of empirical theories and
falsification as the universal empirical
method*
• This was Karl Popper’s greatest contribution to
science…
• A 'scientific' theory can be falsified but never verified,
because the next advance might always change the
underlying assumption that precedes it.
 Taking this idea further..
• Robert Anton Wilson stated that
there is no objective vantage point
from which science could verify its
findings since all findings are
relative to begin with.
• All understanding and experience is
framed within the constraints of
human consciousness*
• –Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle
• If we affect what we are observing, and
are trapped by our perception – can
completely ‘empirical’ science exist?
•
 Defining Cosmology
• from Greek: kosmos, "universe"; and logia, "study"
• Cosmology as a umbrella term encompassing many
disciplines that deal with the universe – ie EVERYTHING
in space.
• As mentioned before we have built our prior world view with
fields that are extrascientific. Eg. Religious cosmology.
• Therefore cosmology on the whole cannot be a science
• Exploration on this scale can challenge scientific rationality–
The point of using a scientific method of inquiry is to
ensure that the fallible cosmologers doing the research
don’t become spiritually invested in their work*
• The routes to this higher understanding are often spiritual
on nature. I for one would not want to live in a
spiritual vacuum.
• We must make the broad distinction between metaphysical
cosmology and physical cosmology.
• There is a place for spirituality, but not in science.
 Cosmology In The Past -
Metaphysical
• Cosmology is as old as humankind. Once primitive
social groups developed language, it was a short
step to making their first attempts to understand
the world around them.
• Very early cosmology, from Neolithic times of 20,000
to 100,000 years ago, was extremely local. The
Universe was what you immediately interacted with.
• Cosmological things were weather, earthquakes, sharp
changes in your environment, etc.*
• Things outside your daily experience appeared
supernatural, and so we call this the time of Magic
Cosmology.[3]
• Magic cosmology uses un-falsifiable explanations to
explain causes
• For example; God /a supernatural being creates the
universe.
• But we can’t go and ask God if he created the
Universe
 Religion
• This disempowering system leads to
millennia of humans taking everything on
‘faith’
• Instead of using rational inquiry to discover
and challenge, new developments are
accepted only if they validate what we
already believe. Contrary advances are
suppressed
• The goal of research at this time is Saving
the theory.
• Verification, not falsification.
• Theologists reinforce, scientists undermine.
• At this time cosmology is certainly not a
science, at least not in the Christian West.
 The Rise of Physical
Cosmology
• Cosmology as a science originates with the
Copernican principle
• This implies that celestial bodies obey identical
physical laws to those on earth, and Newtonian
mechanics, which first allowed us to understand
those motions. This is now called celestial
mechanics.
• Now we can apply standard laws to everything on our
scientific framework.
• There are still underpinnings of faith in Newton’s
perfect clockwork universe.*
• Physical cosmology, began with the twentieth century
development of Albert Einstein's general theory of
relativity**
• This understanding the relationships between energy,
matter space and time give us a scientific sandbox
to play in.
• Advancements in science are met with humans
discovering a universe larger than previously
thought.
• Mathematics gives us figures of mind blowing
size. Could a paleolithic man comprehend
how big a parsec is?
• Prehistoric period: Universe is what I can see
around me
• Ancient Greece: The universe is confined within
the space of the celestial sphere and the
starry canopy.
• Post Great Debate*: Galaxy: The galaxy is not
the universe?
• Next step: The universe is not the multiverse?
• And the god of the gaps: [the idea that God is
 Arguments for
• Cosmology's foundational observations are fully
repeatable.
• We can reconstruct experiments on a larger
scale with digital models and computer
simulations.
• Cosmology now relies on the physical sciences;
drawing heavily on the work of particle
physicists' experiments, and research into
phenomenology and even string theory; from
astrophysicists; from general relativity
research; and from plasma physics.
• Cosmology unites the physics of the largest
structures in the universe with the physics of
the smallest structures in the universe.
• Kosmos Logia indeed!
 Continued – Experimental and
Observational Science
• There is a distinction between experimental sciences
and observational sciences.
• As a science
• Where one can distinguish between law- bound and
contingent properties in ‘local’ physics, this is not
possible in cosmology.
• Bondi, who considered cosmology to be necessarily
phenomenological, expressed the difference as
follows: We have got to take the motion of the
universe, and not its law of motion. It is boring to
describe separately the motion of the apple and of
the moon and so on. But if there is nothing but one
apple falling, then you would be silly if you did
anything but describe that motion
• Studying the whole preventing the study of it’s parts..
 A religious adherence to
Physical Cosmology?
• Cold dark matter, a notion accepted
by the majority of cosmologists,
has not been proven. It is taken
on faith.*
• Cosmology’s parallel with religion.
Both deal with big but probably
unanswerable questions.
•
 Going beyond either /or
answers – Cosmology as the
sum of it’s parts?
Physical Cosmology has many facets within it: consider


it could be science and not a science;



1. Science: CMB, Hubble flow, Big Bang - Hard

scientific fact. We've got strong evidence to back them
up.
2. Science Fiction: Higgs boson, String theory.
Though yet not accepted beyond hypotheses, these
may become science in our lifetime.
3. Religion: Strong Anthropic Principle, Multiverse,
Fine-Tuning argument.
4. Art: Einstein's field equations. The FLRW metric.
Beauty in mathematical elegance.
 Argument Against
• “Cosmology may look like a science,
but it isn’t a science” says James
Gunn of Princeton University co-
founder of the Sloan survey. “A
basic tenet of science is that you
can do repeatable experiments,
and you can’t do that in
cosmology.”
• The impossibility of observing the
beginnings of the universe.
 Contrary Opinions…
• The goal of physics is to understand
the basic dynamics of the
universe,…” - Michael Turner
cosmologist at the Univ. of Chicago
…“Cosmology is a little different.
The goal is to reconstruct the
history of the universe.”
Cosmology is more akin to
evolutionary biology or geology, he
says, in which researchers must
simply accept some facts as given.
 My verdict, conclusion and
why
• As an entire discipline, no. As previously mentioned, the
accepted definition of cosmology takes into account
the attempts to understand the physical and
metaphysical universe around us with elements of
enquiry that were taken and deduced from pre
empricial and non scientific disciplines
• However, I believe Physical cosmology is, and as an
observational science!
• Broken down further…
• Observational cosmology is science
• Theoretical cosmology is an essential supporting
discipline, but it is speculative and its conclusions are
theory dependent. It is not a science yet.
• This is fine so long as we don't mistake current
consensus for evidence [falsify don’t verify]
• Heisenberg and Wilson’s insights
challenge what science is and our
suitability to judge it and the results
we get.
• Cosmology is an immensely valuable
field that has the difficult task of
combining multiple sciences and
philosophical disciplines. The study of
everything within the universe is a
massive and unwieldy framework
without a unifying scientific
framework.
• Perhaps cosmology may become
the unifying science???
 References
• Cho, A., COSMOLOGY: A Singular Conundrum: How Odd Is Our Universe? Science
Magazine.
•  
• Epstein, D.I., Halakhah.com Babylonian Talmud Online in English. Soncino
Babylonian Talmud. Available at: http://www.halakhah.com/ [Accessed
December 10, 2009].
•  
• Johnson, I., Immanuel Kant: Universal Natural History and Theory of the
Heavens. Vancouver Island University. Available at:
http://records.viu.ca/~Johnstoi/kant/kant2e.htm [Accessed December 8,
2009].
•  
• Kragh, H., 1999. Cosmology and Controversy: The Historical Development of
Two Theories of the Universe New Edition., Princeton University Press.
•  
• Kragh, H., The Controversial Universe: A Historical Perspective on the Scientifc
Status of Cosmology. Physics and Philosophy. Available at:
https://eldorado.uni-dortmund.de/bitstream/2003/24422/1/008.pdf
[Accessed December 4, 2009].
•  
• University of Oregon, History of Cosmology. Astronomy 123: Galaxies and the
Expanding Universe. Available at:
http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast123/lectures/lec01.html [Accessed