Creation as a pseudo-explanation in current physical cosmology
pp. 233-254
in: Wolfgang Spohn (ed), Erkenntnis orientated, Berlin, Springer, 1991Abstrakt
In his posthumously published The Direction of Time (1956, p. 133), Hans Reichenbach wrote: "At the present state of cosmology, it is very difficult to come to a conclusion concerning time as a whole". Yet in that work, he did rely on his "hypothesis of the branch structure" (chap. III, sec. 16) to offer a cosmological examination of temporal anisotropy in the context of (classical) statistical mechanics. Elsewhere (Grünbaum, 1967, pp. 168–170), I have offered an appreciative critical appraisal of his proposed extension of his hypothesis of the branch structure to cosmology. But unfortunately, Reichenbach did not live to witness the elaboration of cosmic physical models during the latter half of the twentieth century that are very much concerned with "time as a whole".
