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Non-standard Models and the Sociology of Cosmology

Lopez-Corredoira, Martin (2013) Non-standard Models and the Sociology of Cosmology. [Preprint]

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Abstract

I review some theoretical ideas in cosmology different from the standard "Big Bang": the quasi-steady state model, the plasma cosmology model, non-cosmological redshifts, alternatives to non-baryonic dark matter and/or dark energy, and others. Cosmologists do not usually work within the framework of alternative cosmologies because they feel that these are not at present as competitive as the standard model. Certainly, they are not so developed, and they are not so developed because cosmologists do not work on them. It is a vicious circle. The fact that most cosmologists do not pay them any attention and only
dedicate their research time to the standard model is to a great extent due to a sociological phenomenon (the "snowball effect" or "groupthink"). We might well wonder whether cosmology, our knowledge of the Universe as a whole, is a science like other fields of physics or a predominant ideology.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Lopez-Corredoira, Martinmartinlc@iac.es
Additional Information: Accepted for publication in "Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics", for the special issue of "Philosophy of Cosmology".
Keywords: Cosmology, Astrophysics, Sociology, Philosophy
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Cosmology
General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science
Depositing User: Martín López Corredoira
Date Deposited: 01 Dec 2013 01:11
Last Modified: 01 Dec 2013 01:11
Item ID: 10110
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Cosmology
General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science
Date: 2013
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/10110

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