Cosmology and Philosophy
Daniel Parrochia
TL;DR
The paper surveys the maturation of scientific cosmology, presenting the $\Lambda$CDM framework as the current concordance that explains a flat, expanding universe with dark matter and dark energy, validated by CMB, nucleosynthesis, and large-scale structure data. It then surveys tensions and pre-Big Bang alternatives, including early massive galaxies and SMBHs, large-scale anisotropies, and cyclic or multiverse models such as Tolman cycles, Penrose’s CCC, and string-theory–inspired pre-Big Bang scenarios, along with topological considerations from WMAP/Planck data. The discussion links cosmology to philosophy and theology, arguing for greater autonomy of cosmology while examining the historical influence of concordism and the ongoing debate about creatio ex nihilo. The paper concludes that cosmology increasingly provides a rigorous, data-driven account of the universe, yet fundamental questions about origin, purpose, and ultimate fate remain open and subject to philosophical interpretation. Key speculative avenues include the no-boundary proposal, conformal cyclic models, and the vast landscape of multiverses, which together imply that the apparent laws of nature may be contingent and that cosmology will continue to interact with metaphysical inquiry.
Abstract
Scientific cosmology has now reached its period of maturity with the establishment of a standard model, which is the theory of an expanding universe. The question of whether this expansion resolves itself, in the past, into a singularity identifiable with an absolute beginning, or whether the universe in which we are is only one of the multiple possible universes existing either in space or in time, is still under debate. Moreover, the assimilation of the beginning of the universe to a "creation" has often been contested by theology, which, since Thomas Aquinas, if not since the Fathers of the Church, tends to carefully distinguish the two. In the following article, after briefly summarizing some points in the recent history of scientific cosmology, we will attempt to present in broad outline the standard model that scientists have arrived at. Then, we will undertake to study some of the problems it raises as well as the alternative theories that can be opposed to it. Finally, we will discuss the problematic links that scientific cosmology continues to maintain with philosophy and theology, notably the thorny question of creation from nothing ({\it creatio ex nihilo}).