Butterfield, Jeremy (2013) On Under-determination in Cosmology. Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics.
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Abstract
I discuss how modern cosmology illustrates under-determination of theoretical hypotheses by data, in ways that are different from most philosophical discussions. I emphasize cosmology's concern with what data could in principle be collected by a single observer (Section 2); and I give a broadly sceptical discussion of cosmology's appeal to the cosmological principle as a way of breaking the under-determination (Section 3).
I confine most of the discussion to the history of the observable universe from about one second after the Big Bang, as described by the mainstream cosmological model: in effect, what cosmologists in the early 1970s dubbed the `standard model', as elaborated since then. But in the closing Section 4, I broach some questions about times earlier than one second.
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| Item Type: | Published Article or Volume | ||||||
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| Keywords: | under-determination, the standard model of cosmology, observationally indistinguishable spacetimes, the cosmological principle, the flatness problem, the horizon problem | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Physics > Cosmology Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory General Issues > Theory/Observation |
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| Depositing User: | Jeremy Butterfield | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 06 Jul 2013 15:37 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 06 Jul 2013 15:37 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 9866 | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics | ||||||
| Publisher: | Elsevier | ||||||
| DOI or Unique Handle: | 10.1016/j.shpsb.2013.06.003 | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Physics > Cosmology Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory General Issues > Theory/Observation |
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| Date: | July 2013 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/9866 |
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On Under-determination in Cosmology. (deposited 10 Jun 2012 12:52)
- On Under-determination in Cosmology. (deposited 06 Jul 2013 15:37) [Currently Displayed]
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