Cosmology

One of the central issues to the cosmological argument is causality. This article discusses the relationship of causality to the cosmological argument and how this help us to understand the Divine.

Mainstream physics is in the midst of a welcome development, as a new theory by Petr Hořava has posed a serious challenge to Einstein's general relativity model. It has also vindicated many of Mr. Stolyarov's insights in "A Rational Cosmology."

The revised 62nd essay of "A Rational Cosmology" refutes the idea that non-contact forces (and thus the field models which apply to them) can be explained by special types of "particles" which are responsible for the motion of entities in a force field.

This article describes how the Confirmational Bias is influencing modern Cosmology and Astrophysics.

This 117th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" shows that in a universe with more than one entity and the presence of some observer, it is possible to define motion in absolute terms by holding a reference point mentally fixed.

The false view that light can "travel" has led to the fallacy that a source can transmit light and be destroyed while light still reaches the target. This 115th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" refutes this view and shows that we can only see presently existing light sources.

This 114th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" explains the conditions under which a human observer can see light and how an understanding of these conditions is consistent with the view of light as a direct relationship between its source and its target.

The fact that illumination takes time to initiate often misleads many to believe that, during this time, light must necessarily travel from the source to the target. This 113th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" shows how light can be transmitted without traveling.

This 112th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" shows that the relationship of light is not made manifest through the travel of anything, because no matter is transferred from one entity to another during the process of illumination.

This 108th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" argues that the prevailing contemporary definition of the phenomenon of light polarization presupposes the view of light as a wave, rather than verifying such a view. There needs to be an alternate description of polarization.

This 107th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" explains that laser light is seen as a concentrated beam because trillions of air molecules in close proximity are rapidly illuminated. This is entirely consistent with the view of light as a relationship between source and target.

This 106th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" provides an empirically accurate, logically consistent explanation for how a laser device functions without referring to the erroneous ideas of "particles" or "waves" of light.

Radio transmissions are relationships, similar in kind to light in that they are direct relationships at a distance between source and target entities. This 104th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" argues that radio signals are not waves just as light is not a wave.

This 103rd essay of "A Rational Cosmology" shows that while electrical and magnetic forces are relationships between the light source and some target entities, they are not equivalent to light itself. Light has the effect of illumination, not acceleration.

Experimental data suggests that "electromagnetic oscillations" accompany the transmission of light in all instances. But this 102nd essay of "A Rational Cosmology" shows that they are not a property of light itself, but a different relationship exhibited by the light source.

This 100th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" expands on the refutation of the wave view of light by pointing out the irreconcilable contradictions in this view as well as the reasons why non-experimental philosophers can discard such a view by using logical reasoning.

This 99th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" discusses the dangers of conflating a model for a natural phenomenon with the phenomenon itself. Many scientists commit the fallacy of reification by asserting that a useful model for a phenomenon is equal to that phenomenon.

This 98th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" affirms the possibility of quantifying such relationships as light. Furthermore, it discusses the impossibility of pointing at pure relationships such as light, outside of the entities that exhibit such relationships.

This 97th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" refutes the prevailing view among today's physicists that spin rather than matter is the defining characteristic of a particle. Indeed, the primary attribute of any entity, including particles, is matter, measured by mass.

This 96th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" presents several observations that can help us understand why light cannot have mass or volume. These observations are ubiquitously accessible and can help refute the erroneous view of light as a particle.

This 95th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" shows that the theory that light is a particle contradicts several critical ubiquitous observations. All particles must have mass, volume, length, width, and height, but light has none of these qualities.

This 94th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" argues that experimental data cannot prove the theory that light is a particle simply by observing behavior in light that resembles the behavior of particles. The experimental evidence is simply too narrow to make such a conclusion.

This 93rd essay of "A Rational Cosmology" shows that the definition of matter as the constituent quality of entities is superior to the post-Classical physicists' definition of matter as whatever has mass and exists as a solid, liquid, gas, or plasma.

This 101st essay of "A Rational Cosmology" shows that that light itself cannot exhibit the "electromagnetic oscillations" attributed to it by post-Classical physics, for light has neither the characteristics of magnets nor of electricity.

Many post-Classical physicists define matter as "something that has mass and exists as a solid, liquid, gas, or plasma." This 92nd essay of "A Rational Cosmology" shows why this definition is flawed, as it implies a philosophical reversal of essentials.

This 91st essay of "A Rational Cosmology" contrasts the rational definition of matter as the constituent quality of entities with the prevailing scientific definition of matter as whatever has mass, where mass is defined as "an object's resistance to changes" in its motion.

This 90th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" uses the cosmological insight that no entity need necessarily come to an end to elaborate on the possibility of indefinite human progress. Not only is the universe not doomed; neither are humankind or any individual.

There are grave problems with trusting on pure faith the pronouncements of scientific "experts." This 89th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" discusses the necessity of individual judgment on all scientific issues and ways in which rational cosmology can empower the layman.

This 87th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" warns of the dangers of today's hyper-specialized and intolerant scientific orthodoxy, which prevents the progress of human knowledge and inhibits the emergence of new Renaissance Men.

This 86th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" explains that contemporary science, in large part, has ceased to be guided by the Enlightenment and instead has assumed the ideas of Auguste Comte, who rejected the necessity of philosophy in defining the contours of any discipline.

This 85th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" makes recommendations for a fundamental shift in the theories and concepts governing contemporary specific-observational sciences, arguing for the superiority of the 18th-century Enlightenment approach to science.

This 84th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" refutes Reginald Firehammer's allegation that those who believe that life, volition, and consciousness are physical are engaging in a sort of mysticism. There is nothing mystical about physicalism, properly understood.

This 83rd essay of "A Rational Cosmology" shows that the so-called "unity" of consciousness is in fact a simultaneity, whereby conscious processes occur alongside one another and at the same time; in this way, human perception is analogous to a free-market economy.

This 82nd essay of "A Rational Cosmology" demonstrates the objectivity of the sensation of pain as well as provides a commonsense view of the process of perception in terms of what does the perceiving and what is being perceived.

This 81st essay of "A Rational Cosmology" argues that, with the proper tools, it is possible for healthy human beings to obtain accurate knowledge of the conscious states of handicapped humans or animals with different perceptual mechanisms.

This 80th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" demonstrate that human perception of physical phenomena is, for all healthy, non-handicapped persons, fundamentally the same and provides accurate knowledge about the natures of said phenomena.

This 78th essay of "A Rational Cosmology" explains that the physicalist worldview affirms the possibility of creating life out of non-life, given a sufficient degree of systematic complexity. It also supports the improvement of life processes using the laws of physics.