Stability in Cosmology, from Einstein to Inflation

I investigate the role of stability in cosmology through two episodes from the recent history of cosmology: (1) Einstein’s static universe and Eddington’s demonstration of its instability, and (2) the flatness problem of the hot big bang model and its claimed solution by inflationary theory. These episodes illustrate differing reactions to instability in cosmological models, both positive ones and negative ones. To provide some context to these reactions, I also situate them in relation to perspectives on stability from dynamical systems theory and its epistemology. This reveals, for example, an insistence on stability as an extreme position in relation to the spectrum of physical systems which exhibit degrees of stability and fragility, one which has a pragmatic rationale, but not any deeper one

Stability in Cosmology, from Einstein to Inflation

I investigate the role of stability in cosmology through two episodes from the recent history of cosmology: (1) Einstein’s static universe and Eddington’s demonstration of its instability, and (2) the flatness problem of the hot big bang model and its claimed solution by inflationary theory. These episodes illustrate differing reactions to instability in cosmological models, both positive ones and negative ones. To provide some context to these reactions, I also situate them in relation to perspectives on stability from dynamical systems theory and its epistemology. This reveals, for example, an insistence on stability as an extreme position in relation to the spectrum of physical systems which exhibit degrees of stability and fragility, one which has a pragmatic rationale, but not any deeper one

University governance and rankings: the ambivalent role of rankings for autonomy, accountability and competition

Although university rankings are controversial, they are still widely used to an increasing extent. It is even claimed that they are involved in strategy processes of universities. This paper analyses this far-reaching hypothesis by exploring the role of rankings for institutional autonomy, accountability and competition in a selected sample of six German universities. It turns out that the universities are reflectedly committed to rankings but, because of their methodological ambivalences, do not use rankings in strategy and decision-making. The paper closes with conclusions for realistic approaches towards rankings, according to which current league table rankings cannot be systematically integrated into university governance. This is because ranking indicators often do not represent reliable quality measures and the rank list data are usually highly aggregated thereby obscuring causal linkages the knowledge of which would be necessary for strategic interventions