International Relations. A self-Study Guide to Theory

Newtonian science in a process well-known to all of us as the scientific revo-
lution. The rise of Cartesian-Newtonian science will feature in our discussion 
at a later stage (Step 2.3.). Heliocentrism lasted until it was replaced by the 
world view that our sun system is not the center but only a tiny part of the 
universe – a view finally accepted in the 18
th
century. For an excellent over-
view of the geocentric and heliocentric world views, see Bedenig 2011: 
Chapters 1 and 2, 19-53.
From this brief introduction to the geocentric and heliocentric world 
views, you can draw several conclusions. First (1), these world views present 
attempts of astronomers, mathematicians, and philosophers (in Greek antiqui-

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71 
ty usually all embodied in one person) to describe the “order” of the universe 
based on models derived from observation and mathematical calculus. The 
intention of these models was not only to describe and explain but also to 
predict – for example, anticipating the future positions of planets. Second (2), 
the world views were accepted as “scientifically true” for long periods of 
time that encompassed anywhere from hundreds up to more than thousand 
years. However, world views are (3) not eternal but subject to transition and 
change, driven by the progress of science. Finally (4), usually different, com-
peting world views exist simultaneously, but only one of them becomes his-
torically accepted.
In short, world views comprise perspectives and persistent, long-term pat-
terns of thought on the “being” of the world, its laws and relation to the cos-
mos. A world view can be described as the dominant interpretation of an his-
torical age’s state of knowledge regarding the most basic questions of hu-
mankind; questions about how the world came into being, which position 
humans occupy in the cosmos, and what and how we can know about the 
world (Bedenig 201: 16). As such, world views comprise something very 
comprehensive that goes far beyond what a theory or a philosophy of science 
can express: world views are fundamental orders of thought. Quite often 
these world views are also referred to as “world systems” (see Harrison 2000: 
2), as they present “systematic” models or “systems” of thought. We usually 
find the “elements” of a particular historical age’s world view in the sciences 
as well as in literature, arts, architecture, music and many other areas. We 
will develop this argument of the comprehensive, all-encompassing nature of 
world views later in more detail. 
The world views presented above with the examples of geo- and heliocen-
trism are both world views associated with ideas of cosmology. Cosmology is 
the theory or philosophy of the world as it relates to the origin, development 
and structure of the universe. As a serious scientific area of study and an aca-
demic discipline, cosmology began in 1917 with the works of Albert Ein-
stein, especially those on the “static universe”. Since then, cosmology has 
developed from a mathematical and philosophical area of study into a main-
stream branch of physics and of science more generally (for an excellent 
overview see Harrison 2000 and Ellis/Maartens/MacCallum 2012). In this re-
gard, cosmology today forms an integral part of physics, chemistry, astrono-
my as well as philosophy. It also provides the background of these single dis-
ciplines. Cosmology’s object of study is the universe as a whole. As a core 
subject, this is indeed unique compared to other sciences.
To help you to best achieve the learning objective of this unit, the follow-
ing discussion will draw on those aspects of world views that relate to the 

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72 
systematical and methodological study of the order of the universe. There-
fore, hereafter the term “scientific world view” will be used because the fo-
cus will be on the ideas of science inherent in the world views. As has been 
mentioned above, world views are not eternal but rather subject to transfor-
mation and change driven by the progress of science. This argument points to 
an intrinsic link between philosophical thought about “the world” and the 
idea of science. The argumentation in this unit will be guided by the thesis 
that a mutual dependency of philosophy and science forms a central feature 
of the history of thought in Europe. Learning about this interdependency will 
enhance our understanding of theory building in the social sciences and of the