On the Boundary of the Cosmos

Foundations of Physics 53 (4):1-32 (2023)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Intuitively, the totality of physical reality—the Cosmos—has a beginning only if (i) all parts of the Cosmos agree on the direction of time (the Direction Condition) and (ii) there is a boundary to the past of all non-initial spacetime points such that there are no spacetime points to the past of the boundary (the Boundary Condition). Following a distinction previously introduced by J. Brian Pitts, the Boundary Condition can be conceived of in two distinct ways: either topologically, i.e., in terms of a closed boundary, or metrically, i.e., in terms of the Cosmos having a finite past. This article proposes that the Boundary Condition should be posed disjunctively, modifies and improves upon the metrical conception of the Cosmos’s beginning in light of a series of surprising yet simple thought experiments, and suggests that the Direction and Boundary Conditions should be thought of as more fundamental to the concept of the Cosmos’s beginning than classical Big Bang cosmology.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 101,636

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Quantum mechanics as a consistency condition on initial and final boundary conditions.David John Miller - 2008 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 39 (4):767-781.
A Novel Interpretation of the Klein-Gordon Equation.K. B. Wharton - 2010 - Foundations of Physics 40 (3):313-332.
Emergence of Time.George F. R. Ellis & Barbara Drossel - 2020 - Foundations of Physics 50 (3):161-190.
Neo-Lorentzian Relativity and the Beginning of the Universe.Daniel Linford - 2021 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 11 (4):1-38.
Energy in Newtonian Gravity.Tobias Eklund & Ingemar Bengtsson - 2022 - Foundations of Physics 53 (1):1–14.
Why the Global Phase is Not Real.Shan Gao - 2024 - Foundations of Physics 54 (2):1-6.

Analytics

Added to PP
2023-08-15

Downloads
92 (#229,639)

6 months
32 (#115,548)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Dan Linford
Old Dominion University

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

The Dynamical Approach to Spacetime Theories.Harvey R. Brown & James Read - 2022 - In Eleanor Knox & Alastair Wilson (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Physics. London, UK: Routledge.
Minkowski space-time: A glorious non-entity.Harvey R. Brown & Oliver Pooley - 2006 - In Dennis Geert Bernardus Johan Dieks (ed.), Ontology of Spacetime. Boston: Elsevier. pp. 67--89.
The Kalam Cosmological Argument.William Lane Craig & James D. Sinclair - 2009 - In William Lane Craig & J. P. Moreland (eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 101–201.
Can we know the global structure of spacetime?John Byron Manchak - 2009 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 40 (1):53-56.

View all 26 references / Add more references