Abstract
Most physicists and cosmologists who believe that the universe is, or can be, eternal justify this belief by the fact that one may, conceivably, construct an eternal cosmological model, that is, a cosmological model that includes or entails an eternal universe. But is this correct? Can an eternal cosmological model, by itself, justify belief in the possibility of an eternal universe? In this chapter I argue that the answer to this question is negative. First, I argue that, if one does not engage with the philosophical arguments for a beginning of the universe, and if one does not included in the pool of explanatory options the hypothesis of an absolute beginning when evaluating which hypothesis best explains the discoveries of modern cosmology, then one’s belief in the possibility of an eternal universe cannot be justified solely by the fact that there exist several eternal cosmological models. I then argue, second, that even if an eternal cosmological model can justify this belief, no such model is currently successful, and the hypothesis that the universe had a beginning is, at present, the best explanation of the discoveries of cosmology.
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Notes
- 1.
Such a search forms part of the justification for belief in P. Hence, to state that T may justify ‘by itself’ belief in P is not to say that T is the only justification for belief in P but, rather, it means that T is the only theory or argument that forms part of the justification for belief in P.
- 2.
See for example http://www.reasonablefaith.org and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_argument
- 3.
For an account of IBE see Lipton (2004).
- 4.
In his personal correspondence with Craig , Vilenkin clarifies this point: ‘The question of whether or not the universe had a beginning assumes a classical spacetime, in which the notions of time and causality can be defined. On very small time and length scales, quantum fluctuations in the structure of spacetime could be so large that these classical concepts become totally inapplicable. Then we do not really have a language to describe what is happening, because all our physics concepts are deeply rooted in the concepts of space and time. … But if the fluctuations are not so wild as to invalidate classical spacetime, the BGV theorem is immune to any possible modifications of Einstein’s equations which may be caused by quantum effects’ (Vilenkin quoted in Craig 2013).
- 5.
Rodney Holder (2013:124) declares, ‘ Penrose’s theory is highly contentious among cosmologists … Even Penrose himself is aware that many details of the conformal cyclic model remain to be filled in. Moreover, observations which Penrose argues support his model are disputed, as is the theory itself. One point counting against it is that for the rescaling to work all particles have to lose their mass, whereas, as far as we know, the electron mass is stable’.
- 6.
For a detailed response to Park, see Erasmus (2016).
- 7.
Sometimes a singularity is defined solely as a spacetime boundary where the curvature of spacetime becomes infinite. Robert M. Wald (1984:214–215) shows, however, that spacetime may be singular without the curvature becoming infinite. Hence, it is best to define a singularity in terms of geodesic incompleteness.
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Erasmus, J. (2018). Can Cosmology Justify Belief in an Eternal Universe?. In: The Kalām Cosmological Argument: A Reassessment. Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures, vol 25. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73438-5_9
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