Introduction

Towards a philosophical cosmology

Abstract

Cosmology is the science of the origins and structure of the universe. However, it derives from kosmos, meaning world, and this term indicates both the celestial sphere and the sphere of human history. Cosmology in the philosophical sense must therefore consider both aspects. To this end, I firstly present a semantic exploration that shows the original intertwining of the two spheres. An intertwining that produced a “cosmonomic” canon, where the universe was a physical and metaphysical paradigm for human self-understanding. Then, I show how this paradigm gradually waned with the Copernican scientific revolution, where we witnessed a growing mundanisation, all focused on earthly affairs thanks, in part, to emerging globalisation. The extraordinary richness of the Copernican revolution thus produces a paradoxical worldlessness that disperses the conflicting and enigmatic link between heaven and earth. Hence, the objective of a philosophical cosmology today is to re-propose a unitary Weltfrage capable of reconnecting the various aspects of the experience of the world, inseparably made up of knowledge and imagination, theoretical speculation and crude anthropological realism.