Attention is drawn to the important consequences of three coincidental relationships between these parameters. Only six of the fundamental parameters play a dominant part, namely the coupling constants of the strong, electromagnetic, and gravitational forces, and the mass ratios of the proton, neutron, electron and pi-meson. In order to keep the account concise while remaining self contained, only the barest essentials of the standard nuclear physical and astrophysical calculations involved are given. In this part the way is prepared by a discussion of the manner in which familiar local phenomena depend qualitatively, and in order of magnitude, quantitatively on the fundamental parameters of microphysics. This is the first part of a survey whose ultimate purpose is to clarify the significance of the famous coincidence between the Hubble age of the universe and a certain combination of microphysical parameters. Thus, intelligible questions may be considered metaphysical, but not timelessly so. Drawing on the work of Nicholas Jardine, Hans-JГ¶rg Rheinberger and Christopher Hookway, I argue that in cosmology during this period, particularly in relation to multiverse proposals, there appears a well-defined вЂњscene of responseвЂќ, rather than of fully-fledged inquiry. It appears that proposals are being considered metaphysical precisely when there is no consensus on what constitutes empirical testability. A historicist reading of what metaphysics represents in this context is presented in order to emphasize that вЂњmetaphysicalвЂќ as a pejorative term in science discourse is a fluid and historically contingent concept. However, the charge that multiverse proposals are nothing but speculative metaphysics can be considered in terms other than criteria relating to empirical testability. George EllisвЂ™ concern that we are entering a new era of вЂcosmological mythвЂ™ resonates with the 1937 debate regarding вЂњcosmythologyвЂќ and the shifting boundary between physics and metaphysics. Critics who see speculative theorizing as delving into the metaphysical are not hard to find. This paper traces the emergence of вЂњwhyвЂќ questions in modern cosmology and the responding proliferation of multiverse discourse in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

Rt cosmic brush 309