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Modern Cosmology: Assumptions and Limits Research by KIAS Visitors Research by KIAS Visitors experiment, the science as we know now may not modern physical cosmology. Its origin can be be possible. On the contrary, science in reality is traced to Einstein’s paper in 1917, in which he has more related with the art of ignoring and selecting applied his newly introduced gravity theory to observations, and manipulating experiments, in cosmology in order to reconcile his theory with Modern Cosmology: accordance with a preconceived theory. Detailed Mach’s principle. Although even the presence of observation is often a hindrance to scientific external galaxies was not known at that time, Assumptions and Limits reasoning. Ignore apparent phenomena and grasp Einstein assumed homogeneity and isotropy of the essence. Thus, in science theory often comes space, and thus of the matter distribution, merely JAI-CHAN HWANG before observation. The trick is to treat the subject for the sake of mathematical simplicity. Notice that Kyungpook National University, Korea KIAS Visiting Professor as an isolated, simplified, idealized and abstract this is an assumption not based on what was E-mail address : [email protected] (preferably mathematized) model, and test and observed. Perhaps Einstein did not expect that this materialize it by fitting data to a model using the simple working assumption would have become a method of analysis and statistical techniques. basic principle in cosmology in future development. Physical cosmology tries to understand the Universe at large with its origin and evolution. Observational Modern cosmology shows such a state of affairs and experimental situations in cosmology do not allow us to proceed purely based on the empirical means. well. After all, scientific cosmology is nothing In fact, the basic tenet of physics is that the laws We examine in which sense our cosmological assumptions in fact have shaped our current cosmological other than ‘the Universe imagined based on the of physics we know are valid always and worldview with consequent inevitable limits. Cosmology itself, as other branches of science and “scientific” method.’ In fact, the situation of everywhere. Thus, advocating the universality of knowledge, is a construct of human imagination, subject to social conditioning, and reflecting the popular cosmology is not isolated in science. In Albert the laws of physics reminds us sort of the belief system of the era. The question at issue deserves further philosophic discussions. Einstein’s words, “physical concepts are free cosmological principle; this belief in universality is creations of the human mind, and are not, however in general not testable. It is amusing to notice that “Philosophy, in one of its functions, is the critic of cosmologies.” it may seem, uniquely determined by the external assuming the general validity of the physical laws Alfred North Whitehead, Science and the Modern World (1925) world.” in space and time is more similar to the perfect cosmological principle, which adds the time Kinetic artist Alexander Calder has mentioned that forbidden regions include outside our current Although science is an effort to approximate invariance of the physical state of the Universe in “the Universe is real but you can’t see it, you have cosmic horizon, time already passed in our past phenomena through models and to test those addition to the cosmological principle. However, to imagine it.” His universe may mean everything in light-cone, and the far future which has yet to come. models, it is important to be aware of the difference the perfect cosmological principle implemented in the world. Modern physical cosmology aims at Some of these regions are not just practically between model and reality. As remarked by Alfred the steady-state theory is no longer popular in understanding quantitatively the structure, origin difficult to access, but they belong to the absolute North Whitehead, “the aim of science is to seek the modern cosmology. and evolution (sometimes including future) of the limit of scientific knowledge which is in principle simplest explanations of complex facts. We are apt Universe based on scientific methods (i.e., inaccessible by observation or experiment. to fall into the error of thinking that the facts are Although in history the cosmological principle observation and experiment). To scientists, the simple because simplicity is the goal of our quest.” was initially postulated theoretically without any Universe is a physical object1 in the large-scale. Of course, science is not simply based on reference to observations, one might wonder However, regions in the Universe accessible by observation and experiment so innocently. If In cosmology, in order to infer regions whether the assumption on matter distribution can observation and experiment are limited. The science were naively based on observation and unknowable even in principle, an assumption is be tested through the observations. However, there necessary, which might reflect our anticipation. An are difficulties in practice, and often in principle. 1 Professor Roberto Torretti objects calling the Universe as a “physical object”. According to him, “the epistemic counterpart to assumption that distribution of matter in the large- There can be some evidence of isotropy around us, artist Calder's dictum would be something like: ‘The Universe is real, but you can’t grasp it as an object, you have to think of it as a scale is spatially homogeneous and isotropic is but the test of homogeneity becomes difficult as the Kantian Idea’.” termed the cosmological principle, often adopted in scale increases. In addition, if we consider the finite 20 21 Research by KIAS Visitors Research by KIAS Visitors experiment, the science as we know now may not modern physical cosmology. Its origin can be be possible. On the contrary, science in reality is traced to Einstein’s paper in 1917, in which he has more related with the art of ignoring and selecting applied his newly introduced gravity theory to observations, and manipulating experiments, in cosmology in order to reconcile his theory with Modern Cosmology: accordance with a preconceived theory. Detailed Mach’s principle. Although even the presence of observation is often a hindrance to scientific external galaxies was not known at that time, Assumptions and Limits reasoning. Ignore apparent phenomena and grasp Einstein assumed homogeneity and isotropy of the essence. Thus, in science theory often comes space, and thus of the matter distribution, merely JAI-CHAN HWANG before observation. The trick is to treat the subject for the sake of mathematical simplicity. Notice that Kyungpook National University, Korea KIAS Visiting Professor as an isolated, simplified, idealized and abstract this is an assumption not based on what was E-mail address : [email protected] (preferably mathematized) model, and test and observed. Perhaps Einstein did not expect that this materialize it by fitting data to a model using the simple working assumption would have become a method of analysis and statistical techniques. basic principle in cosmology in future development. Physical cosmology tries to understand the Universe at large with its origin and evolution. Observational Modern cosmology shows such a state of affairs and experimental situations in cosmology do not allow us to proceed purely based on the empirical means. well. After all, scientific cosmology is nothing In fact, the basic tenet of physics is that the laws We examine in which sense our cosmological assumptions in fact have shaped our current cosmological other than ‘the Universe imagined based on the of physics we know are valid always and worldview with consequent inevitable limits. Cosmology itself, as other branches of science and “scientific” method.’ In fact, the situation of everywhere. Thus, advocating the universality of knowledge, is a construct of human imagination, subject to social conditioning, and reflecting the popular cosmology is not isolated in science. In Albert the laws of physics reminds us sort of the belief system of the era. The question at issue deserves further philosophic discussions. Einstein’s words, “physical concepts are free cosmological principle; this belief in universality is creations of the human mind, and are not, however in general not testable. It is amusing to notice that “Philosophy, in one of its functions, is the critic of cosmologies.” it may seem, uniquely determined by the external assuming the general validity of the physical laws Alfred North Whitehead, Science and the Modern World (1925) world.” in space and time is more similar to the perfect cosmological principle, which adds the time Kinetic artist Alexander Calder has mentioned that forbidden regions include outside our current Although science is an effort to approximate invariance of the physical state of the Universe in “the Universe is real but you can’t see it, you have cosmic horizon, time already passed in our past phenomena through models and to test those addition to the cosmological principle. However, to imagine it.” His universe may mean everything in light-cone, and the far future which has yet to come. models, it is important to be aware of the difference the perfect cosmological principle implemented in the world. Modern physical cosmology aims at Some of these regions are not just practically between model and reality. As remarked by Alfred the steady-state theory is no longer popular in understanding quantitatively the structure, origin difficult to access, but they belong to the absolute North Whitehead, “the aim of science is to seek the modern cosmology. and evolution (sometimes including future) of the limit of scientific knowledge which is in principle simplest explanations of complex facts. We are apt Universe based on scientific methods (i.e., inaccessible by observation or experiment. to fall into the error of thinking that the facts are Although in history the cosmological principle observation and experiment). To scientists, the simple because simplicity is the goal of our quest.” was initially postulated theoretically without any Universe is a physical object1 in the large-scale.
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