Cosmology (metaphysics)

For the general article on cosmology, see Cosmology.

Cosmology in metaphysics is the reflection on the totality of all phenomena. It contrasts with physical cosmology, the study of the origin of the universe in scientific terms after the Copernican Revolution.

Metaphysical naturalism is the belief that the physical universe is all that exists. Materialism and energeticism are two naturalistic cosmologies.

Theistic cosmologies

Theism is the belief that a God or gods exists as a supernatural entity that created the universe and governs its outcome. Types of theism include monotheism and polytheism. The Abrahamic religions are theisms.

Pantheism is the belief that God and the universe have a one-to-one correspondence or the universe is a manifestation of God. The philosopher Spinoza was a pantheist. Panentheism or emanationism is the belief that the entire universe is part of God, but God is greater than the universe. The Neo-Platonic philosopher Plotinus was an emanationist.

Deism is the belief that God or gods created the universe, set everything in motion, and then had nothing more to do with it. God remains completely transcendent to the creation after creating it.

Other cosmologies

Cosmological dualism (as opposed to body-mind dualism) is the belief that there are two gods or metaphysical forces and the universe is a product of these gods or forces. The Persian religion Zoroastrianism is cosmologically dualistic. This cosmology can also often be found in works of fantasy, often in the form of a benevolent creator and a malicious evil anti-deity, as this provides a clearly defined line between good and evil. A notable example of this is Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series (the Creator and the Dark One).

Idealism is the belief that only consciousness exists. The various features of the world may be thought of as "ideas in the mind of God." Various forms of idealism can be compatible with either theism or atheism. The British philosopher George Berkeley was an idealist, as was the German philosopher Hegel. See: Hindu idealism, Buddhist idealism, Platonic idealism, German idealism, British Idealism, Panpsychism.

Acosmism is the belief that neither the self nor the universe has ever existed. This is held by some forms of strict Advaita Vedanta, a Hindu philosophy. The Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna, whose beliefs are called voidism, or nihilism (in the Eastern, rather than the Western sense), believed that the world neither exists, nor does it not exist.

Metaphysics and the Single Intelligible Object

Cosmology was a subject of metaphysics before the Copernican Revolution. Especially since Einstein's theories, cosmology has been primarily concerned with physics (see physical cosmology). But the Great Ideas of the Western World^[1] defines metaphysical cosmology as "holding the universe in your hand as if it was a single intelligible object," to which it must be added, "for the purpose of defining Man's place in the universe," not to mention the place of the person "holding" the universe. Physics takes the world apart piece by ever smaller piece, trying to figure out the puzzle of existence. Metaphysical cosmology puts the universe into one comprehensible object so that it may be examined as the whole. From this method, the "first science" of metaphysics can generate theories, but not science.

According to the PBS program Faith & Reason,^[2] cosmology is a "branch of study concerned with the origins and nature of the universe." But this describes physical cosmology as well. The difference between them is that physical cosmology takes a dim view of "theoretical" metaphysics; what cannot be proved by science has little account in physics. However, the epistemological principle of discovering "cosmos" from "chaos" has traditionally been to accept the findings of either the metaphysics or the science of cosmology, then "develop the consequences."^[3]

Metaphysical cosmology did not give way easily to physics. Copernicus developed the "heliocentric" theory of the universe, and when Galileo backed him up, the cosmology of the Roman Church, cosmology built on the solid foundation of Aristotle's metaphysics as introduced into the Church by Thomas Aquinas, received a shock heard throughout the Western World: the Earth was not the center of the universe. Galileo was put on trial for contradicting the Church, but his case won, with the resultant phenomenon of the "Copernican Revolution," so called ever since.

See also

• Animism
• Buddhist cosmology
• Cosmic pluralism
• Cosmogony
• Creationism
• Dualism
• Dynamism
• Epiphenomenalism
• Esoteric cosmology
• Hindu cosmology
• Holism
• Hyle
• Hylomorphism
• Mechanism
• Meontology
• Metaphysical naturalism
• Modal realism
• Monism
• Ontology
• Pancomputationalism
• Philosophical realism
• Popperian cosmology
• Process philosophy

References

1. ^ The Great Ideas are the "Syntopicon" of the Great Books of the Western World, constituting Volumes II and III of 54 volumes.
2. ^ "Cosmology" in "Glossary" for Faith & Reason. Public Broadcasting Service.
3. ^ Dictionary of Philosophy; Dagobert D. Runes, Editor; 1968

External links

• Cosmology and Cosmogony at the Catholic Encyclopedia.