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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Introduction: The Problem of Scientific Knowledge | |
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| Situating the problem: our essential presuppositions | |
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| The procedure followed in this analysis | |
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| The Model of the Universe in Plato's Timaeus | |
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| The Big Bang Model of Cosmology | |
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| Algorithmic Information Theory | |
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| Notes | |
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| The Model of the Universe in the Timaeus | |
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| The date of the composition of the TimaeusThe first twelve axioms of the cosmological model advanced in the Timaeus | |
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| Plato's theory of matter and the cosmological axioms | |
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| Plato's explanation of the complexity of sensible things | |
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| Experimental verification in Plato's time | |
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| Standards and instruments of measure in Plato's time | |
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| The numbering system in Plato's time | |
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| Experimentation in the TimaeusNotes | |
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| Contemporary Big Bang Cosmology | |
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| The standard Big Bang model: short description | |
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| The "philosophical" presuppositions | |
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| The geometric axioms | |
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| Einstein's gravitation | |
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| Einstein's dynamic axioms: matter and energy in the universe time and causality in the universe | |
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| Solving Einstein's field equations | |
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| Isotropy and homogeneity of the energy/matter content of the universe: the standard Friendmann-Robertson-Walker model | |
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| The relation between the model and observation | |
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| The Hubble law | |
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| Cosmic microwave background radiation | |
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| The relative abundance of light elements | |
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| Observational limits in cosmology | |
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| Problems affecting the FRW model: observations requiring additional axioms | |
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| The inflationary scenario | |
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| Modern theory of matter | |
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| The central role of the concept of symmetry | |
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| Notes | |
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| What Knowledge is Conveyed by Science? | |
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| The symbolic description of reality | |
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| Algorithmic Information Theory: some relevant aspects | |
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| The Turing machine | |
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| A definition of science | |
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| The science of the axioms in Aristotle's Posterior AnalyticsFinal conclusions | |
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| Notes | |
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| Indices | |