A scientific perspective?

Sir Fred Hoyle, was a very influential astronomer who I mentioned in a previous post about the anthropic principle. He is best known for his contribution to understanding nucleosynthesis (particularly how carbon is produced in the collision of 3 helium nuclei) and for his vocal opposition to the "Big bang theory", a term he actually coined.

It is fascinating that he wrote the following in the introduction to a scientific paper he published in 1948 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society [a leading scientific journal]

[left click to see larger text]
It is interesting that he openly acknowledges his "aesthetic objection" to the universe having a beginning. But is this scientific?