The Universe as a Scientific Object

The aim of the present contribution is twofold: 1) to argue in favour of the thesis according to which the Universe as a whole cannot be considered as a scientific object in any sense that such words have had in the historical development of physics. Although the classical dialectical arguments are not used, the conclusion will be drawn that, essentially, its role is still that of a “regulative framework” having at most the same methodological role as the “idea” in the Kantian sense; 2) to argue in favour of the thesis according to which there is no justification for relativistic cosmology’s claim that it has given or is about to give empirical answers to the traditional “cosmological problems” (whether the Universe is boundless or not, what its age and destiny may be, how it came about, and so on). And this, not on the basis of philosophical reasons alone but also as a consequence of the weakness of its logical and empirical foundations.

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