The full causal Muller-Israel-Stewart (MIS) theory of dissipative proc
esses in relativistic fluids is applied to a flat, homogeneous, and is
otropic universe with bulk viscosity. It is clarified in which sense t
he so-called truncated version is a reasonable limiting case of the fu
ll theory. The possibility of bulk viscosity-driven inflationary solut
ions of the full theory is discussed. As long as the particle number i
s conserved, almost all these solutions exhibit an exponential increas
e of the temperature. Assuming that the bulk viscous pressure of the M
IS theory may also be interpreted as an effective description for part
icle production processes, the thermodynamical behavior of the Univers
e changes considerably. In the latter case, the temperature increases
at a lower rate or may remain constant during a hypothetical de Sitter
stage, accompanied by a substantial growth of the comoving entropy.