TPF : Transcendental Cosmology

[Gnomon]

As you say, that depends on what is to count as metaphysical. The term is used, and misused, quote broadly.
By way of an example, in the Popperian school ideas are metaphysical if they are not falsifiable. So the conservation laws, being neither provable by mere deduction nor falsifiable, are metaphysics. For Watkins this is no more than an evaluation of their logical structure, but others will take this as an insult, not wanting anything in physics to be metaphysical. The conservation laws are not derived only from logic, but from experimenting and theorising over considerable time. — Banno

Yes, the "Meta" label has debatable baggage. Aristotle didn't classify his Nature topics in terms of falsifiability-by-experimentation, but he did divide his book between A. topics that were knowable by observation (Empirical) and B. topics that were knowable by reason & imagination (Theoretical). The latter later became known as "Metaphysics", and concerned concepts that are not directly knowable by the senses, and not verifiable by empirical methods. Most theories, even today, are endlessly arguable.

Later still, empirical science began to develop methods for testing theories*1. But what we call a "Theory" today is still a philosophical generalization (generic class) that can't be verified short of testing all possible instances of the category hypothesized. So modern science still combines Observation (Physics) with Theorization (Metaphysics)*2. Some theories reach a dominant consensus for a while, but remain open to refutation.

Theoretical Metaphysics has been found useful in Science. So, the problem is not its lack of empirical verifiability (e.g. Big Bang ; Multiverse), but with its associated worldview (Materialism vs Idealism). Some form of Big Bang/MV theory can be taken for granted by those who don't accept religious theories (Genesis ; Messiah) on faith. Both types of theories are "Metaphysical" according to Popper. And neither has any confirmable consequences in the here & now Real world.

So, a pre-BB theory (Cosmology) can be judged plausible if it predicts observable post-BB consequences. Inflation Theory was intended to do so, but fell short*3. Both Multiverse and Genesis theories imply some real-world consequences*4. And both are Metaphysical in that they are not directly & conclusively verifiable. Therefore, "what is to count as metaphysics" seems to boil down to whether it supports your own philosophical worldview, or an "erroneous" view.


*1. Scientific theory :
A scientific theory is an explanation of an aspect of the natural world and universe that has been repeatedly tested and corroborated in accordance with the scientific method, using accepted protocols of observation, measurement, and evaluation of results. __Wikipedia

*2. Metaphysics of Science :
Metaphysics of Science is the philosophical study of key concepts that figure prominently in science and that, prima facie, stand in need of clarification. It is also concerned with the phenomena that correspond to these concepts. Exemplary topics within Metaphysics of Science include laws of nature, causation, dispositions, natural kinds, possibility and necessity, explanation, reduction, emergence, grounding, and space and time.
https://iep.utm.edu/met-scie/

*3. Is The Inflationary Universe A Scientific Theory? Not Anymore :
And it's even worse, they argue, inflation is not even a scientific theory:
“nflationary cosmology, as we currently understand it, cannot be evaluated using the scientific method.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswith ... 66fd61b45e

*4. Genesis Prophecies :
https://www.icr.org/article/genesis-prophecies

[Gnomon]

Fire In The Mind (1995), by science writer George Johnson — Gnomon
Does look a very interesting read.
I again recommend Mind and the Cosmic Order, Charles Pinter. — Wayfarer

Yes. I read the book almost 30 years ago, before the universal function of Information became a central focus of my personal philosophy. My current Enformationism worldview began only about 15 years ago. So, I'm hoping, the second time around, I'll absorb more of his historical & journalistic overview of post-quantum science. I especially appreciate his metaphorical writing style, that is easier for an amateur to picture, compared to the abstractions of typical technological teaching. As a trivial example, he refers to the Atomic Bomb, developed at Los Alamos, as "mathematical transubstantiation".

Referring to Los Alamos and Santa Fe institutes in northern New Mexico, he says : "There seems to be something about the altitude here and the stark relief between mountains and desert that pushes speculation to the edge and makes even the most sober of scientists more reflective, more willing to turn science back on itself, to theorize about what it means to theorize --- about how we make these maps of the world. A theory can be thought of as the fitting of a curve to a spray of data." [my emphasis] He goes on to juxtapose the otherworldliness of quantum science with the variety of religious "maps" in the same area : pueblo Indians, catholic Mexicans, anti-catholic Protestants, and peace-loving Muslims, along with a myriad of New Age notions. "Retracing the history of these disciplines in a different way --- viewing them more as artful constructions than as excavations of preexisting truth . . ." Then, he suggests a novel way to understand, both the complexities & contradictions of the world, and our methods of making sense of it. "Conversely, we will see physicists seeking signs of contingency in the way the universe happened to crystalize from the Big Bang, Perhaps the particles and forces we observe and the laws they obey are 'frozen accidents', just like biological structures."

Pertinent to this thread on Transcendence & Cosmology, he makes a comment that only years later made sense to me. "an attempt to recast physics and cosmology by climbing back to the trunk of the tree of knowledge . . . . and taking a somewhat different branch, in which the seemingly ethereal concept of information is admitted as a fundamental quantity as palpable and real as matter and energy." [my bold] Later, speaking of the broken symmetries of quantum physics, he said "the world would be mathematical if only reality didn't mess it up". I'll let you guess what he meant by that.

I looked at the website for Mind and the Cosmic Order, but it requires an "institutional subscription". The only "institution" I'm a member of is Google. I downloaded a PDF, but it included only the index. Maybe later.

Options

[Gnomon]

↪Gnomon
Somewhat controversially, Kant took Newtonian physics and Euclidian geometry as fundamental. For a while, "Kant's conception looked quaint at best and silly at worst". I'm sceptical that Kant can provide what you are after. — Banno

I'm not sure what you think I'm after. The point of this thread is not the authority, or lack thereof, of Kant's scientific worldview. I simply used his list of Antinomies as an outline for my own observations on Transcendence & Cosmology, and to elicit the opinions of others. His "quaint & silly" conception of physics is irrelevant for my purposes. However, if you find my own notions "quaint & silly", that can't be blamed on Kant, since I am not a Kant scholar or acolyte. Most of what I know of his philosophy comes from Wikipedia.

What I am "after" is an answer to the topical question : "How could something come from nothing?" I too, am doubtful that Kant could shed any light on the 21st century significance of that Big Bang lacuna --- the controversial "god gap" that Christians plug with the Genesis myth, and Atheists fill with Multiverse myths. A secondary question is regarding whether "Transcendence" should be off-limits for inquiring philosophers and cosmologists. Is that concept itself intrinsically "silly"?

Transcendence & Cosmology :
What are your thoughts on existential Transcendence? Is it irrational to imagine the unknowable "What-If" beyond the partly known "What-Is"? Should we "fall-down & prostrate"? or just "shut-up & calculate"? Or is it reasonable for speculative Philosophers & holistic Cosmologists daring to venture into the "Great Beyond" where pragmatic Scientists "fear to tread"?
https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussi ... smology/p1

[Gnomon]

You hinted, in your talk of metaphysics, at a broader interest in how this question is framed, and asked about "transcendence" being off-limits to philosophers and physicist. The Watkins article presents a logic that can be applied rationally to metaphysics by physicists and philosophers. Thought it might better suit your need than Kant.

My own approach at present would be more after Wittgenstein, as I think I have explained previously. The emphasis must be on the use to which a theory is put, to what can be done and what can be tested. Speculations are fine, provided they are understood as speculations, a parlour game. — Banno

Thanks for the suggestions and link. But, I'm no better informed about Wittgenstein than Kant. My GI Bill college education had no place for Philosophy, except for Logic, and that was a math requirement. Ironically, most of my minimal philosophical knowledge comes from philosophical scientists (e.g. physicist Paul Davies). I find them easier to understand than most academic analytical philosophers. So, I suspect that Wittgenstein, like Kant, would be way above my pay grade. That's why I depend on dumbed-down Wikipedia for accessible tidbits of philosophy.

Regarding "off limits" topics, this thread was inspired by harsh skeptical (Logical Positivism) reactions to my naive willingness to cross the empirical line-in-the-sand, of a material Big Bang beginning, into the imaginary realm of Transcendence -- which is construed as an indication of a god-shaped hole-in-the-heart. Actually, my narrow interest in Metaphysics is due to the 21st century notion that post-Shannon Information is fundamental to reality and equivalent to Energy*1. Yet, the Big Bang theory, about the origin of the material universe, left the origin of Energy (causation), and Natural Laws (organization), as an open question. So, I'm interested in the implicit transcendent Causation & Legislation that Cosmological theories take for granted --- as existing, in some sense, prior to the beginning of our universe, perhaps even eternally.

As a philosophical theory, that supposed eternal Causation & Legislation could fill the "god gap" that current Cosmology leaves open. I'm not expecting to find evidence for a Genesis god, though, in the unclocked time-before-time. At the moment, I refer to "it" as a philosophical Principle, like an Aristotelian "First Cause" or Platonic "Logos", that may be necessary to explain the flow of Information/energy in the real world. A scientific name for that "flow of causation" is "Evolution". Moreover, Darwin's competition for resources has been compared to a computer program crunching information in order to calculate some ultimate output*2. So, I think of the transcendent source of Energy & Laws metaphorically as "The Programmer". That's not a religious concept, but merely a philosophical postulation for the ultimate question of Cosmology : why is there something?

Since I'm merely an unpaid amateur philosophical dabbler, I have no practical "use" for metaphysical speculations. And, I don't need such "parlour games" to support traditional religious beliefs. Yet again, I might be interested in Watkins's "haunted universe" logic, but it's hidden behind a paywall, and requires some kind of affiliation to read or download. I'd like to know a bit more about what's for sale, before I invest my sparse money.

*1. Is information the only thing that exists? :
Physics suggests information is more fundamental than matter, energy, space and time – the problems start when we try to work out what that means
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg ... at-exists/

*2. Programming the Universe :
A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes on the Cosmos
___Seth Lloyd
https://www.amazon.com/Programming-Univ ... 1400033861