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This article discusses scientific theories of creation (cosmogony). For a discussion of the cosmogonic beliefs of traditional cultures, see creation myth. A creation myth is a supernatural mytho-[[religion religious]] story or explanation that describes the beginnings of humanity, Earth, life, and

Cosmogony, or cosmogeny, is any theory concerning the coming into existence or origin of the universe, or about how reality came to be. The word theory has many distinct meanings in different fields of Knowledge, depending on their methodologies and the context of discussion. In common usage existence is the world of which we are aware through our senses but in Philosophy the word has a more specialized meaning and is often contrasted with The Universe is defined as everything that Physically Exists: the entirety of Space and Time, all forms of Matter, Energy Reality, in everyday usage means "the state of things as they actually exist" The word comes from the Greek κοσμογονία (or κοσμογενία), from κόσμος "cosmos, the world", and the root of γί(γ)νομαι / γέγονα "to be born, come about". In the specialized context of space science and astronomy, the term refers to theories of creation of (and study of) the Solar System. Space science is an all-encompassing term that describes all of the various science fields that are concerned with the study of the Universe, generally also meaning "excluding Astronomy (from the Greek words astron (ἄστρον "star" and nomos (νόμος "law" is the scientific study The Solar System consists of the Sun and those celestial objects bound to it by Gravity.

Cosmogony can be distinguished from cosmology, which studies the universe at large and throughout its existence, and which technically does not inquire directly into the source of its origins. Cosmology (from Greek grc κοσμολογία - grc κόσμος kosmos, "universe" and grc -λογία -logia) is study There is some ambiguity between the two terms, for example, the cosmological argument from theology regarding the existence of God is technically an appeal to cosmogonical rather than cosmological ideas. The cosmological argument is an Argument for the Existence of God or a " First Cause " Theology is the study of a god or the gods from a religious perspective God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. In practice, there is a scientific distinction between cosmological and cosmogonical ideas. Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning " Knowledge " or "knowing" is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding Physical cosmology is the science that attempts to explain all observations relevant to the development and characteristics of the universe as a whole. Physical cosmology, as a branch of Astronomy, is the study of the large-scale structure of the Universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its Observation is either an activity of a living being (such as a Human) which senses and assimilates the Knowledge of a Phenomenon, or the recording of data Questions regarding why the universe behaves in such a way have been described by physicists and cosmologists as being extra-scientific, though speculations are made from a variety of perspectives which include extrapolation of scientific theories to untested regimes and philosophical or religious ideas. Scientific method refers to bodies of Techniques for investigating phenomena Speculation, in a financial context is making an investment that increases the overall risk in a portfolio In Mathematics, extrapolation is the process of constructing new data points outside a Discrete set of known data points Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos

Attempts to create a naturalistic cosmogony are subject to two separate limitations. Philosophical naturalism has been described in various ways In its broadest and strongest sense naturalism is the metaphysical position that "nature is all there is One is based in the philosophy of science and the epistemological constraints of science itself, especially with regards to whether scientific inquiry can ask questions of "why" the universe exists. Philosophy of science is the study of assumptions foundations and implications of Science. Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, "knowledge" + λόγος, " Logos " or theory of knowledge Scientific method refers to bodies of Techniques for investigating phenomena Another more pragmatic problem is that there is no physical model which can explain the earliest moments of the universe's existence (Planck time) because of a lack of a consistent theory of quantum gravity. Pragmatism generally considered to have originated in the late nineteenth century with Charles Peirce, who first stated the Pragmatic maxim. This is a list of some of the major unsolved problems in Physics. In Physics, the Planck time ( tP) is the unit of Time in the system of Natural units known as Planck units. Quantum gravity is the field of Theoretical physics attempting to unify Quantum mechanics, which describes three of the fundamental forces of nature

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Epistemological limitations to cosmogony

The assumptions of naturalism that underlie the scientific method have led some scientists, especially observationalists, to question whether the ultimate reason or source for the universe to exist can be answered in a scientific fashion. Philosophical naturalism has been described in various ways In its broadest and strongest sense naturalism is the metaphysical position that "nature is all there is Scientific method refers to bodies of Techniques for investigating phenomena Observation is either an activity of a living being (such as a Human) which senses and assimilates the Knowledge of a Phenomenon, or the recording of data In particular, the principle of sufficient reason seems to indicate that there should be such an explanation, but whether a satisfactory explanation can be obtained through scientific inquiry is debatable. The principle of sufficient reason (also called the Causal Doctrine) states that anything that happens does so for a definite Reason. A scientific examination of cosmogony using existing physical models would face many challenges. For example, equations used to develop models of the origin do not in themselves explain how the conditions of the universe that the equations model came to be in the first place.

Theistic explanations for origins indicate one or more supernatural beings as the explanation, though atheist commentators often point to this as an argument from ignorance or a God of the gaps fallacy, and that such an assumption provides no explanation for existence of the deity. Theism, in its most inclusive usage is the belief in at least one Deity. See also List of deities A deity is a Postulated Preternatural or Supernatural Being, who is always Primum movens (Latin First cause) is a term used in philosophical and theological Arguments for the existence of God in connection Atheism The argument from ignorance, also known as argumentum ad ignorantiam ("appeal to ignorance") or argument by lack of imagination, is a Logical fallacy The God of the gaps refers to a view of God deriving from a Theistic position in which anything that can be explained by human knowledge is not in the domain of God Nondual explanations by contrast state that the very question is misleading, since it contains erroneous assumptions of beginnings, endings and the nature of existence itself, and consider the visible universe as phenomenology. Nondualism implies that things appear distinct while not being separate

As a result of this, scientific cosmogonies are sometimes supplemented by reference to metaphysical and theistic belief systems. Metaphysics is the branch of Philosophy investigating principles of reality transcending those of any particular science Theism, in its most inclusive usage is the belief in at least one Deity. The problem can be summarized as three classical paradoxes. A paradox is a true statement or group of statements that leads to a Contradiction or a situation which defies intuition; or inversely These paradoxes (discussed by both Kierkegaard and Leibniz) are:

  1. reconciling a doctrine of causation (similar to the 13th century proof of God posed by Thomas Aquinas);
  2. reconciling the conservation law ("something from nothing");
  3. reconciling issues of temporal (as in Zeno's paradoxes) and logical regression. Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (ˈsœːɐn ˈkʰiɐ̯kəˌɡ̊ɒˀ in Danish Anglicized as;) Causality (but not causation) denotes a necessary relationship between one event (called cause and another event (called effect) which is the direct consequence In Physics, a conservation law states that a particular measurable property of an isolated Physical system does not change as the system evolves

However, some of the metaphysical principles used to formulate these classical paradoxes no longer enjoy an unchallenged status as laws of thought. For instance, quantum mechanics gives an independent motivation to challenge the principle of sufficient reason. Quantum mechanics is the study of mechanical systems whose dimensions are close to the Atomic scale such as Molecules Atoms Electrons The principle of sufficient reason (also called the Causal Doctrine) states that anything that happens does so for a definite Reason.

Planck time limitations to cosmogony

Planck time (10-43s) is the time it would take a photon travelling at the speed of light to cross a distance equal to the Planck length. In Physics, the Planck time ( tP) is the unit of Time in the system of Natural units known as Planck units. In Physics, the photon is the Elementary particle responsible for electromagnetic phenomena Light, or visible light, is Electromagnetic radiation of a Wavelength that is visible to the Human eye (about 400–700 The Planck length, denoted by \scriptstyle\ell_P \, is the unit of Length approximately 1 It has been proposed that this may be the hypothetical "quantum of time", the smallest measurement of time that has any meaning, although in current physics theory time is not quantized.

Although the laws of physics lose experimental support at the Planck time, modern science has sought to clarify the nature of these paradoxes, so far with only limited success. Scientific method refers to bodies of Techniques for investigating phenomena For example, one can apply the current understanding of grand unified theories (GUTs) – both quasi-classical (such as general relativity) and modern (such as quantum gravity, superstring, and M-theories) – to these three primary cosmogonic paradoxes in thought experiments. Grand Unification, grand unified theory, or GUT refers to any of several very similar unified field theories or models in Physics that General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of Gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916 Quantum gravity is the field of Theoretical physics attempting to unify Quantum mechanics, which describes three of the fundamental forces of nature See also String theory Superstring theory is an attempt to explain all of the particles and Fundamental forces of nature in one theory by modelling In Theoretical physics, M-theory is a new limit of String theory in which 11 dimensions of Spacetime may be identified A thought experiment (from the German Gedankenexperiment) is a proposal for an Experiment that would test a Hypothesis or Theory While these result in some contradictions and lack completeness in a mathematical sense (being based on axioms that are 'merely' self-evident, but not robust under the stresses of radical scepticism) these paradoxes can nonetheless be analyzed rationally using the subatomic applications of quantum cosmology, particularly through the employment of the Schrödinger wave equations. In Theoretical physics, Quantum cosmology is a field attempting to study the effect of Quantum mechanics on the creation of the universe or The wave equation is an important second-order linear Partial differential equation that describes the propagation of a variety of Waves such as Sound waves

In each case, where general relativity fails as the curvature of space-time invokes singularities from its equations at t=0, the statistically "grey" nature of quantum cosmology tends to allow a scientific rationale to account for each paradox, and in so doing allows for a scientific perspective on previously theistic terrain. General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of Gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916 In Theoretical physics, Quantum cosmology is a field attempting to study the effect of Quantum mechanics on the creation of the universe or For example, application of quantum "fuzziness" (per the Wheeler-DeWitt application of subatomic position and momentum equations to universal radius and expansion) avoids boundary issues, as developed in the Hawking-Hartle Wave Function. In Theoretical physics, the Hartle-Hawking state, named after James Hartle and Stephen Hawking, is the Wave function of the Universe

All such equations are based on differentials, which assume a continuum, where in our universe, affected by the Planck length and other minimum scales, this continuum has only limited meaning, about which philosophy remains in a state of semantic flux. Discrete mathematics, also called finite mathematics, is the study of mathematical structures that are fundamentally discrete in the sense of not supporting or requiring the

The become-into-being of the universe in science fiction

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See also

Cosmology (from Greek grc κοσμολογία - grc κόσμος kosmos, "universe" and grc -λογία -logia) is study Emanationism is Platonic monism and an idea in the Cosmology or Cosmogony of certain religious or philosophical systems Esoteric cosmology is Cosmology that is an intrinsic part of an esoteric or occult system of thought Eschatology (from the Greek, Eschatos meaning "last" and -logy meaning "the study of" is a part of Theology In common usage existence is the world of which we are aware through our senses but in Philosophy the word has a more specialized meaning and is often contrasted with See Cosmology (disambiguation. Cosmology is the branch of Philosophy and Metaphysics that deals with the World See Cosmology (disambiguation. Religious cosmologies are ways of explaining the history and evolution of the Universe based The ultimate fate of the universe is a topic in Physical cosmology.

Dictionary

cosmogony

-noun

  1. The study of the origin, and sometimes the development, of the universe or the solar system, in astrophysics, religion, and other fields.
  2. Any specific theory, model, myth, or other account of the origin of the universe.
  3. The creation of the universe.
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