Mach's philosophy, his criticism of the Newtonian space-time conception and the possibility of a deductive cosmology

It is argued that the universe as. a whole is not tractable as physical system. Since, as Mach stated, physical notions referring to the universe as a whole have no tangible sense because they imply applications of measurement notions to an object that is not accessible to measurement. Therefore, as well deductive cosmology as extrapolating cosmology contain fundamental difficulties.