FRAGILITY IN COSMOLOGY

An important implicit assumption usually made regarding the nature of the cosmos and the theoretical framework employed in its study is that of structural stability. On the basis of the modern results in dynamical systems theory, it has recently been argued that the appropriate theoretical framework might instead tum out to be that of structural fragility. Here we give further examples and review the major results in cosmology to illustrate the potential extent of the relevance of fragility in cosmology.