ABSTRACT
This chapter views ultimate reality in the sense of the most general characterization of what there is, by 'metaphysics'. Materialism is one example, and idealism is another. Metaphysics is about what there is in the most general sense. Physical cosmology deals with what there is in a sense which can be said to be less general only if one is rather careful to say what one means. The chapter describes physics and physical cosmology that are considered as orderly attempts to construct theoretical accounts of the positions and interrelations of particles, waves, strings and so forth through space and time by 'science'. It explores how physics does in fact impinge on metaphysics. The chapter seeks to show that this relationship suggests quite strongly the sort of metaphysics. It argues that two major issues are posed by philosophy and cosmology. One is about the continued presence of theories which in principle necessarily form alternatives. The other is about explanation itself.
