philosophy of cosmology

Do the dramatic advances in cosmology in the last century herald a new golden age of philosophy? A new collaborative project between cosmologists and philosophers is leading the way.

Why does time only ever move in one direction? We talk to philosophers of physics Jeremy Butterfield and David Wallace, as well as the eminent Roger Penrose about the puzzle time poses to physicists and what it has to do with the Big Bang and the second law of thermodynamics.

When it comes to the entire cosmos, we humans are incredibly small and insignificant. But that's precisely why we need to take ourselves into account when thinking about the Universe. Find out why.

Observers are, of course, vital in physics: we test our theories by comparing them to our observations. But in cosmology, as Jim Hartle explains, we could be one of many possible observers in the Universe and knowing which one we are is vital in testing our theories.

To celebrate the release of more English translations of Einstein's papers, we revisit one of his previously unknown models of the Universe.

Bob Wald tells us why probabilities are important in cosmology.

There are many theories in particle physics that cannot be tested in experiments. Does this make it unscientific? This debate, featuring one of our favourite theoretical physicists, David Tong, explores the question.

Is cosmology a science or a branch of philosophy? Mathematician and astronomer Bernard Carr gives some answers.

If you like to have your mind blown cosmology is a great field to go into. But is it science?

What gives an equation the right to call itself a law?

Why cosmologists worry about isolated brains that randomly fluctuate into existence.

George Ellis explains why the study of the cosmos poses some very deep questions.