Have you ever pondered if the universe has a boundary? If it did, what does science have to say to back up the theory? Do the metaphysicists agree or disagree with physicists? All these questions and possibly more will be answered in this essay. My goal in this paper is to hopefully convince you that the universe, in fact, does have a boundary and that there is substantial evidence to justify this claim.
I will start off with what the metaphysics has to say about the universe’s “boundaries”. Keep in mind when using the term “the universe”, I am considering not just our sole galaxy, but rather all of the galaxies and space in between, so in other words the collective volume of all galaxies. According to most of the philosophers, the universe is infinite and has no boundary.
Archytas, a Greek philosopher and friend of Plato, is one who argues Aristotle’s model of the universe and believes the universe is infinite. Aristotle’s model of the universe consisted of a closed ball that includes its surface and its interior. Anything beyond the surface of the ball, the edge of space, is absolutely nothing. “Archytas pointed out an obvious problem: couldn’t you stick your hand out beyond space? If that’s possible, then whether or not you do so, there is a place outside where the hand could be – a possible place for the hand. But space is the collection of all possible places of things, and so there must be space outside, and hence no edge at all” (Huggett, p.33). Archytas’ argument suggest that whenever he reaches the edge of the universe (if there is one) and his hand goes beyond the supposed edge, then he just merely ask the same question, infinitely over each time. So Archytas makes a valid ‘what if’ to this conundrum. One way to reject...
... middle of paper ...
...about the universe’s properties. Finally, we learn that Einstein’s theory of general relativity and field equation contributed to the finding of CMB and gravitation waves that all lead back to the Big Bang. In conclusion, hopefully this essay helped you understand that the universe is indeed finite, but has no edge, it’s just expanding.
Works Cited
Huggett, Nick. "The Shape of Space 1: Topology." Everywhere and Everywhen: Adventures in Physics and Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2010. 33-34. Print.
Poidevin, Robin Le. "The Edge of Space." Travels in Four Dimensions: The Enigmas of Space and Time. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003. 99. Print.
Tate, Karl. "Cosmic Microwave Background: Big Bang Relic Explained (Infographic)." Space.com. TechMedia Network, 3 Apr. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .
In Alan Lightman’s, “Our Place in the Universe,” he describes his experiences in the Greek Isles explaining how meek it made him feel to be surrounded by the vast ocean with no land in sight except a small strip of brown in the distance. Great thinkers throughout history, have been exploring the visible variety of shapes, colors, and sizes, though the greatest of these are size, from the smallest atom to gargantuan stars. These massive differences in size change the way we view ourselves in the universe. (470) Garth Illingworth, from the University of California, has studied galaxies more than 13 billion light years away from us.
Throughout history there has always been discussions and theories as to how the universe came to be. Where did it come from? How did it happen? Was it through God that the universe was made? These philosophies have been discussed and rejected and new theories have been created. I will discuss three theories from our studies, Kalam’s Cosmological Argument, Aquinas’s Design Argument, and Paley’s Design Argument. In this article, I will discuss the arguments and what these arguments state as their belief. A common belief from these three theories is that the universe is not infinite, meaning that the universe was created and has a beginning date. Each believe that there was a God, deity, or master creator that created the universe for a reason. They also believe that
For as long as they have existed, humans have had ideas about what the universe holds. Through the millennia they have come to know quite a bit about what is out there, yet the universe is so vast, the greatest human minds have not been able to find everything. However, thanks to a relatively new theory called panpsychism, there may just be an answer. David J Chalmers, an Australian philosopher and cognitive scientist, has written a research paper titled, “Panpsychism and Panportopsychism,” that may allow some more understanding on what really is out there, through his use of ethos, logos, and diction.
Friedman, Thomas (2007). The World Is Flat (3rd ed.). New York: Picador / Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Hawking, Stephen. “Our Picture of the Universe.” Fields of Reading. 6th ed. Ed. Nancy R. Comely et al. New York: St. Martin’s, 2001. (565-574)
Kant’s definition of space helps him prove that the concept of space is a form of intuition. Space, he holds, is everything that is sensed outside of us. The mind is the inner sense and everything else is in space. We then represent objects in that space, where they are interpreted as having s...
Part I: The Edge of Knowledge Chapter 1: Tied Up with Strings This is the introductory section, where the author, Brian Greene, examines the fundamentals of what is currently proven to be true by experimentation in the realm of modern physics. Green goes on to talk more about "The Basic Idea" of string theory. He describes how physicists are aspiring to reach the Theory of Everything, or T.O.E. Some suspect when string theory is completely understood that it might turn out to become the T.O.E.Part II: The Dilemma of Space, Time, and Quanta Chapter 2: Space, Time, and the Eye of the Beholder In the chapter, Greene describes how Albert Einstein solved the paradox about light. In the mid-1800's James Maxwell succeeded in showing that light was actually an electromagnetic wave.
Smith, Q., & Oaklander, L. N. (1995).Time, change, and freedom an introduction to metaphysics. London: Routledge.
An underlying theme present throughout the series is the possibility that our existence is not the only one. According to current theories in physics, it is entirely possible that our universe is just one of many universes f...
Krauss, Lawrence Maxwell, and Richard Dawkins. A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing. New York, NY: Free, 2012. 7-8. Print.
One way of describing these different levels of infinity is with Cantor's theoretical "Hotel Infinity" which is also an Allegory of his work and struggles in set theory. The story is interesting and also explains the fundamentals of infinity.
There is a major controversy brewing in the educational field today. Scientist, teachers, professors, and many others are debating where the world and its habitats originally came from. This is the debate of Intelligent Design (ID) and Evolution. The main debating question of many scholars being, "Is the universe self-contained or does it require something beyond itself to explain its existence and internal function?".
The universe, it's vastness, how it was created, and why we are a part of it amazes and astounds many people who are constantly searching for answers. Others believe they have the answers and try to persuade people to understand their view. Others don't even think about it at all.
The Universe is a collection of millions of galaxies and extends beyond human imagination. After the big bang, the universe was found to be composed of radiation and subatomic particles. Information following big bang is arguable on how galaxies formed, that is whether small particles merged to form clusters and eventually galaxies or whether the universe systematized as immense clumps of matter that later fragmented into galaxies (Nasa World book, 2013). A galaxy is a massive area of empty space full of dust, gases (mainly 75% Hydrogen and 25%Helium), atoms, about 100-200 billion stars, interstellar clouds and planets, attracted to the center by gravitational force of attraction. Based on recent research, 170 billion galaxies have been estimated to exist, with only tens of thousands been discovered (Deutsch, 2011).
This is probably the greatest discovery imaginable; however, the universe still seems to be a very controversial subject.