Great fun! Yes, challenging but also thought-provoking. Very responsible coverage of the science, and useful (not merely clever) philosophical discussions of key related concerns.

it was an amazing experience working through this course, Material and lectures were very interesting and made me want to pursue further in the world of philosophy

Question Your Assumptions

Science is a process, conducted by human beings over many years, decades and centuries. Scientists are influenced by who they are, where they were educated, who influenced them, what they believe, and the assumptions they hold. Yesterdays “science” can sometimes be tomorrows “garbage”. There is a long list of these, dead and abandoned ideas in all scientific professions and fields. This course has demonstrated that scientists are often wrong and for many reasons. This is a good thing because science is self-correcting, and therefore we do not worship science or scientists as it is not a religion, with “gods”. Our concept of the universe, and the “creation” of the universe has changed over many millennia. This is all to the good. It is important to be skeptical, and use critical thinking and logic. Some of the most brilliant scientists, i.e., Einstein, can be wrong or partially wrong. We live in an exciting time, when everything is being questioned (although creating some stress and anxiety): the “big bang”, the cosmological constant, the multiverse, string theory, and many other concepts. This course has made this very clear. It even has implications for religious belief, i.e., concepts as: the “beginning”, “creation”, the concept of “nothing”, quantum mechanics, the concept of cause and effect and others. The presenters did an excellent job in presenting these many controversies, without bias. The presenters also presented good example between theory and experimental evidence. There is bow a controversy that much of astronomy and cosmology is being unduly influenced by mathematics rather than experimental evidence. However, string theory for example is difficult to demonstrate experimentally. Finally, one must always question one’s beliefs and assumption, even thought that can be emotionally and psychologically difficult (i.e., Einstein and Bohr), but that is science, a process not a religion. Therefore, I am also taking the other course, on the philosophy of science: cognition. William B. Secor

Excellent course! The subject matter is fascinating and so well taught! The lectures are very interesting and the transcripts and PDF files provided, make the understanding of basic cosmological concepts more manageable especially for people like me with no previous knowledge on the subject matter and English not being my native tongue. I really appreciate all the extra links with information for each week topics. I certainly will take time now (that I’ve finished answering all the quizzes), to read the articles and watch the clips from the resources link ! I am definitely taking Part II of this course. C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S!!! Awesome faculty team & content!

This was FIRST EVER philosophy of science experience. Never been a part of that field until now. The course was extraordinary great with plenty of knowledge. Although some information was so advance for me that it took me sometime to understand a few things. I had to go through some other sources outside of the course to understand what our professors and lecturers are presenting because I am a total layman in philosophy of sciences. Thank you so much for such an informative course. Looking forward to continue learning similar courses.

A very enjoyable tour across the history of philosophy and the science, with some very exciting talks on the current state of knowledge. Whets the student's appetite to delve more in depth into the issues postulated throughout the course. Prof. Michela Massimi has mastered the topics so well that she can deliver the lectures effortlessly. This course is a must for the beginner, and highly recommended for those who know the subject but want a fresher perspective.

This course will interest physics and cosmology buffs as well as philosophy enthusiasts. It discusses deep philosophy-of-science topics, like "how do we know that we know" and "how can cosmology be a science if you can't really create experiments"; it does this through an interesting and accessible explanation of the latest in cosmology.

The course is challenging but accessible and provides a good glimpse into both cosmology and philosophy.

This course is suitable for anyone who is passionate about learning Cosmology in detail because to learn Cosmology, you need to know how it came to being how it is today. History is important, and we should know the history of the things we are passionate about. Thank you for the wonderful experience I had while taking this course's lectures. Good Work by the whole team.

Sometimes difficult to follow due to the amount of math, this course is eye-opening and inspiring. It's nice to know that those of us who spend more time questioning and hypothesizing than actually "proving" theories are inspiring more scientifically-minded people; and, it's exciting to know that those people have made such strides in these fields.

This course challenged the idea of Cosmology as Physical Science and argued whether it should be regarded as physical science or not. This course used Scientific Theory and problem of underdetermination of evidence for modern cosmology to test theories or hypothesis to understand the inflation of universe or existence of dark matter or energy etc.

New terms and definitions are always a challenge, but I really enjoyed this course and I found the course stuck with the important information; I also liked that this course was geared for those interested in Cosmology, as I am. The videos are well done and engaging.

Extremely interesting with lots of additional readings for further study. For someone whose knowledge of physics is rather limited (and long forgotten from school) it was still accessible, which shows great teaching skills. Highly recommended!

High quality presentation and materials for these topics. Haven't had this much fun in a while with philosophy and science. Dark Energy and Dark Matter will continue to be topics I am interested in. Congratulations University of Edinburgh.

I have always felt kind of "Dumb" when it came to physical sciences, but this course gave me a different perspective to understanding the physical science concepts that I was unaware of previously. Very engaging and well put together.

A great course introduction on the philosophy of science and cosmology. I found it to be very complex because I am somewhat unfamiliar with cosmology. But still the explanations were good and eventually I got it.

Un curso muy completo y fácil de digerir sobre la cosmología y el principio antrópico, muy recomendable para la comprensión que se tiene sobre el universo actualmente y la razón de nuestra existencia.

Many of the mathematical elements were beyond me, but the instructors presented the material in such a way that it really demonstrated the art of philosophical thinking about the field of science.

This was a beautifully structured and comprehensive introductory course to the philosophy of physical sciences. Primarily, being not a student of cosmology or philosophy, I learned a lot from this course. Since when the lectures were recorded many developments have taken place in the field of cosmology, especially regarding the evidence of Gravitational waves. Therefore, I would recommend updating the materials with the latest developments if possible (e.g., by adding or two additional videos). Lastly, I would express my heart-felt gratitude to the course instructor for their efforts to make things easy.

I loved this course! I have a particular interest in the philosophy of science (specifically epistemic beliefs), but found that I got so much out of this class with the cosmology connections. Admittedly, I do have a background in both physics and philosophy, so I was able to follow the material easily, but others may require more attention to the videos themselves. However, this is THE FIRST MOOC that I have taken the time to complete; well, done!

Hello, I enjoyed every moment of the course. It was very well and clearly explained. As an aged person, it was not easy for me, yet I kept learning first for the pleasure, but also for keeping my mind busy.

I for sure Will continue learning at Coursera and at EdinburghUniversity.

One small remark, more readable notes black on white should be used on the blackboard.

Thank you and best regards

The course has a very concise and well-paced presentation. The lecturers are very clear in their explanations and the additional reading material complements very well the information given. This course is a must to get familiarised with the way science works through in order to formulate a scientific theory that explains the phenomena we can observe.

En mi opinión, encontraré este curso muy interesante, alto nivel académico de sus instructores. Esta introducción a la Filosofía de las Ciencias Físicas forma un enfoque completo del tema. Recomiendo estos cursos a cualquiera que ame el conocimiento. Me siento muy agradecido con los instructores de los cursos y la plataforma de Coursera.

I think it is a great course

It was very important for me to know the methods and processes of science seen from philosophy. I found the case of cosmology from metaphysics to becoming a physical science very exciting, and also how Professor J. Peacock summarizes the most important facts of modern cosmology, I find it awesome!

A comprehensive course for a specific subject. The videos are easy to follow and the additional readings provide even more depth to the corresponding topics. I find that the course is very interesting not only for the philosophical/scientific minded, but for most people in general.

I enjoyed so much this course! I think it is very well scheduled and structured. I also liked a lot the introduced scientific topics.

I am also taking advantage of these courses of the University of Edinburgh for practice English language, and I highly recommend them.

Thanks!