Bonn 2010 – scientific programme

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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 1: Raumzeit und Kosmologie

AGPhil 1.2: Talk

Monday, March 15, 2010, 17:30–18:00, JUR G

The Several Faces of the Cosmological Principle — •Claus Beisbart — TU Dortmund, Fakultät 14, Institut für Philosophie und Politikwissenschaft, 44221 Dortmund

Much work in relativistic cosmology relies upon the Cosmological Principle. Very roughly, this principle has it hat the universe is spatially homogeneous and isotropic. However, if the principle is to do some work, it has to be rendered more precise. The aim of this talk is to show that such a precification significantly depends on the theoretical framework adopted and on its ontology. Moreover, it is shown that present-day cosmology uses the principle in different versions that do not fit together nicely. Whereas, in theoretical cosmology, the principle is spelt out as a requirement on space-time manifolds, observational cosmology cashes out the principle using the notion of a random process. I point out some philosophical problems that arise in this context. My conclusion is that the Cosmological Principle is not a very precise hypothesis, but rather a rough idea that has several faces in contemporary cosmology.