32 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
Bill Bryson's 2003 journey through the history of science — covering the big bang, evolution, plate tectonics, quantum mechanics, and human origins — told through the stories of the eccentric scientists who made the discoveries, winning the Royal Society Prize for Science Books.
Lawrence Krauss's popular book arguing that quantum cosmology explains how the universe could arise spontaneously from a quantum vacuum state — interpreted by some as undermining the cosmological argument for God.
Ancient Greek philosopher who posited Nous (Mind) as the principle that initiated the cosmic rotation separating opposites, and who argued that all natural substances contain portions of everything.
Ancient Greek philosopher from Miletus, student of Thales, who posited the apeiron — the indefinite or boundless — as the primordial principle from which all things come and to which they return.
Ancient Greek philosopher from Miletus who posited air as the primary substance, arguing that all things arise through condensation and rarefaction of air.
The Yi Jing (I Ching, Book of Changes) — one of the oldest Chinese texts, consisting of 64 hexagrams used for divination and accompanied by philosophical commentaries that became foundational for Chinese cosmology and metaphysics.
American cosmologist at UC San Diego — designer of the BICEP telescope at the South Pole — author of Losing the Nobel Prize — who came close to winning the Nobel Prize when his team's claimed detection of primordial gravitational waves was contaminated by cosmic dust.
The I Ching (Classic of Changes) — one of the oldest of the Chinese classics, combining an ancient divination system of 64 hexagrams with philosophical commentary, influencing Confucian, Daoist, and Neo-Confucian thought for millennia.
Greek philosopher who succeeded Zeno as head of the Stoic school, known for emphasizing the theological and cosmological dimensions of Stoicism.
Late Pre-Socratic philosopher who revived Anaximenes's air monism, arguing that all things are modifications of air and that air is divine intelligence.
Han dynasty Confucian who argued that Heaven, Earth, and Humanity form a responsive cosmic triad and developed the theory of cosmic resonance (ganying) — the basis for imperial Confucianism.
Ancient Greek philosopher who proposed a pluralist cosmology: all things are composed of four indestructible elements (fire, air, water, earth) combined and separated by the cosmic forces of Love (Philotes) and Strife (Neikos).
Jin dynasty Daoist master who synthesized Confucian ethics with Daoist alchemy in the Baopuzi, arguing that immortality is achievable through alchemical practices and moral cultivation.
South African cosmologist who co-authored with Stephen Hawking The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time and has argued against the multiverse and for the reality of top-down causation in complex systems.
American author and music industry publicist turned science writer — author of The Lucifer Principle (1995) and Global Brain (2000) — who developed theories of group selection, meme evolution, and the social nature of biology.
Han dynasty philosophical compendium compiled under the patronage of Liu An, Prince of Huainan — the most comprehensive synthesis of Daoist cosmology with Confucian, Legalist, and Yin-Yang thought in early China.
Han dynasty prince of Huainan who assembled a court of scholars to compile the Huainanzi — an eclectic synthesis of Daoist, Confucian, and Legalist thought organized around Daoist cosmological principles.
Australian cosmologist at Western Sydney University — author of A Fortunate Universe (with Geraint Lewis) — who argues that the fine-tuning of physical constants is a genuine scientific puzzle that theism explains better than the multiverse.
American philosopher who defended the A-theory (tensed) of time and argued that the Big Bang undermines the cosmological argument for God's existence.
American theoretical physicist and philosopher who has argued for the Everettian interpretation of quantum mechanics, a naturalistic account of emergent time, and a 'poetic naturalism' where all ontological levels are valid.
Anaximander's concept of the apeiron — the indefinite, boundless, or unlimited — as the primary source from which all definite things emerge and into which they return.
Dong Zhongshu's Chunqiu Fanlu (Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals) — the foundational text of Han Confucian cosmology, developing the theory of cosmic resonance (ganying) and the Three Bonds.
Plato's cosmological dialogue in which the Demiurge (a craftsman god) creates the physical universe by imposing mathematical form on a pre-existing receptacle (the chora), using the Forms as models.
Stanford theoretical physicist who co-discovered string theory and developed the string theory landscape — the multiverse of possible universes predicted by the theory.
Ancient Iranian religion founded by the prophet Zoroaster (Zarathustra) — featuring a cosmic dualism between Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord of light and truth) and Angra Mainyu (Destructive Spirit of darkness and evil) — one of the oldest continuously practiced religions and a major influence on the Abrahamic traditions.
Leonard Susskind's popular exposition of the string theory landscape — arguing that the apparent fine-tuning of physical constants is explained by a multiverse of 10^500 universes.
British Astronomer Royal and cosmologist — who has written extensively on existential risk, the future of humanity, and the structure of the universe.
MIT cosmologist and AI safety advocate — co-founder of the Future of Life Institute, author of Life 3.0 on AI futures, and developer of the Mathematical Universe Hypothesis.
Lawrence Krauss's book traces the development of modern physics — from Galileo through quantum field theory — as a narrative of humanity replacing supernatural explanations with empirical discovery. The title ironically alludes to the Christian Gospel narrative, asserting that the scientific story of the universe surpasses it.
The Omega Point is a concept developed by Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in The Phenomenon of Man (1955, posthumous) describing the hypothesized end-state of cosmic evolution: a maximum point of complexity and consciousness toward which the entire universe tends. Teilhard saw God — the Omega — as both the source and the final attractor of all evolutionary development. Physicist Frank Tipler later secularized and formalized the concept in cosmological terms.
Dualistic religion founded by the prophet Mani in 3rd century CE Persia — synthesizing Zoroastrian cosmic dualism, Christian redemption, and Buddhist liberation — depicting the cosmos as a battleground between light (spirit) and darkness (matter) — once the world's most geographically widespread religion, extending from Rome to China.
Family of Indian religious traditions — the world's oldest living religious complex — encompassing diverse practices, philosophies, and mythologies united by the Vedic scriptural canon, the concepts of dharma, karma, moksha, and samsara, and the authority of the Brahmin tradition — the third-largest world religion with over one billion adherents.