DESIGN AND THE ANTHROPIC FINE-TUNING OF THE UNIVERSE

2010 ◽  
pp. 155-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Lane Craig
Keyword(s):  
Fine Tuning ◽  
The Universe

Imaginings

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 17-30
Author(s):  
Kelly James Clark
Keyword(s):  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Intellectual Humility ◽  
First Order ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Empirically Supported ◽  
Group Violence ◽  
The World ◽  
The Universe

In Branden Thornhill-Miller and Peter Millican’s challenging and provocative essay, we hear a considerably longer, more scholarly and less melodic rendition of John Lennon’s catchy tune—without religion, or at least without first-order supernaturalisms (the kinds of religion we find in the world), there’d be significantly less intra-group violence. First-order supernaturalist beliefs, as defined by Thornhill-Miller and Peter Millican (hereafter M&M), are “beliefs that claim unique authority for some particular religious tradition in preference to all others” (3). According to M&M, first-order supernaturalist beliefs are exclusivist, dogmatic, empirically unsupported, and irrational. Moreover, again according to M&M, we have perfectly natural explanations of the causes that underlie such beliefs (they seem to conceive of such natural explanations as debunking explanations). They then make a case for second-order supernaturalism, “which maintains that the universe in general, and the religious sensitivities of humanity in particular, have been formed by supernatural powers working through natural processes” (3). Second-order supernaturalism is a kind of theism, more closely akin to deism than, say, Christianity or Buddhism. It is, as such, universal (according to contemporary psychology of religion), empirically supported (according to philosophy in the form of the Fine-Tuning Argument), and beneficial (and so justified pragmatically). With respect to its pragmatic value, second-order supernaturalism, according to M&M, gets the good(s) of religion (cooperation, trust, etc) without its bad(s) (conflict and violence). Second-order supernaturalism is thus rational (and possibly true) and inconducive to violence. In this paper, I will examine just one small but important part of M&M’s argument: the claim that (first-order) religion is a primary motivator of violence and that its elimination would eliminate or curtail a great deal of violence in the world. Imagine, they say, no religion, too.Janusz Salamon offers a friendly extension or clarification of M&M’s second-order theism, one that I think, with emendations, has promise. He argues that the core of first-order religions, the belief that Ultimate Reality is the Ultimate Good (agatheism), is rational (agreeing that their particular claims are not) and, if widely conceded and endorsed by adherents of first-order religions, would reduce conflict in the world.While I favor the virtue of intellectual humility endorsed in both papers, I will argue contra M&M that (a) belief in first-order religion is not a primary motivator of conflict and violence (and so eliminating first-order religion won’t reduce violence). Second, partly contra Salamon, who I think is half right (but not half wrong), I will argue that (b) the religious resources for compassion can and should come from within both the particular (often exclusivist) and the universal (agatheistic) aspects of religious beliefs. Finally, I will argue that (c) both are guilty, as I am, of the philosopher’s obsession with belief. 

scholarly journals Are the psychophysical laws fine-tuned?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Cavedon-Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Fine Tuning ◽  
The Universe

AbstractNeil Sinhababu (Am Philos Q 54(1):89–98, 2017) has recently argued against the fine-tuning argument for God. They claim that the question of the universe’s fine-tuning ought not be ‘why is the universe so hospitable to life?’ but rather ‘why is the universe so hospitable to morally valuable minds?’ and that, moreover, the universe isn’t so hospitable. For it is metaphysically possible that psychophysical laws be substantially more permissive than they in fact are, allowing for the realisation of morally valuable consciousness by exceptionally simple physical states and systems, rather than the complex states of brains. I reply that Sinhababu’s argument rests upon unsupported claims and that we have reason to doubt that an omnibenevolent God would make the psychophysical laws more permissive than they in fact are.

scholarly journals The Search for Feebly Interacting Particles

2021 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 279-313
Author(s):  
Gaia Lanfranchi ◽  
Maxim Pospelov ◽  
Philip Schuster
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Particle Physics ◽  
Interaction Strength ◽  
New Physics ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Experimental Program ◽  
Interacting Particles ◽  
Fundamental Physics ◽  
The Standard Model ◽  
The Universe

At the dawn of a new decade, particle physics faces the challenge of explaining the mystery of dark matter, the origin of matter over antimatter in the Universe, the apparent fine-tuning of the electroweak scale, and many other aspects of fundamental physics. Perhaps the most striking frontier to emerge in the search for answers involves New Physics at mass scales comparable to that of familiar matter—below the GeV scale but with very feeble interaction strength. New theoretical ideas to address dark matter and other fundamental questions predict such feebly interacting particles (FIPs) at these scales, and existing data may even provide hints of this possibility. Emboldened by the lessons of the LHC, a vibrant experimental program to discover such physics is underway, guided by a systematic theoretical approach that is firmly grounded in the underlying principles of the Standard Model. We give an overview of these efforts, their motivations, and the decadal goals that animate the community involved in the search for FIPs, and we focus in particular on accelerator-based experiments.

scholarly journals THE GRACEFUL EXIT FROM THE ANOMALY-INDUCED INFLATION: SUPERSYMMETRY AS A KEY

2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (08) ◽  
pp. 1159-1169 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. L. SHAPIRO
Keyword(s):  
Supersymmetry Breaking ◽  
Low Energy ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Starobinsky Model ◽  
Expansion Of The Universe ◽  
Soft Supersymmetry Breaking ◽  
The Universe

The stable version of the anomaly-induced inflation does not need a fine tuning to induce sufficient expansion of the Universe. The non-stable version (Starobinsky model) provides the graceful exit to the FRW phase. Here, we indicate the possibility of the inflation which is stable at the beginning and unstable at the end. The effect is due to the soft supersymmetry breaking and the decoupling of the massive sparticles at low energy.

scholarly journals RADION POTENTIAL AND BRANE DYNAMICS

2001 ◽  
Vol 16 (24) ◽  
pp. 1583-1595 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. MERSINI
Keyword(s):  
Inflation Rate ◽  
Vacuum Energy ◽  
Density Perturbation ◽  
Scalar Fields ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Late Time ◽  
Frw Universe ◽  
Strong Suppression ◽  
Dynamic Setting ◽  
The Universe

We examine the cosmology of Randall–Sundrum model in a dynamic setting where scalar fields are present in the bulk as well as the branes. This generates a mechanism similar to that of Goldberger–Wise for radion stabilization and the recovery of late-time cosmology features on the branes. Due to the induced radion dynamics, the inflating branes roll towards the minimum of the radion potential, thereby exiting inflation and reheating the universe. In the slow roll part of the potential, the TeV branes have maximum inflation rate and energy as their coupling to the radion and bulk modes have minimum suppression. Hence, when rolling down the steep end of the potential towards the stable point, the radion field (which appears as the inflaton of the effective 4-D theory in the branes) decays very fast and reheats the universe. This process results in a decrease of the brane's canonical vacuum energy, Λ4. However, at the minimum of the potential Λ4 is small but not necessarily zero and the fine-tuning issue remains. Density perturbation constraints introduce an upper bound on Λ4. Due to the large radion mass and strong suppression to the bulk modes, moduli problems and bulk reheating do not occur. The reheat temperature and a sufficient number of e-folding constraints for the brane-universe are also satisfied. The model therefore recovers the radiation dominated FRW universe.

Purpose

2021 ◽  
pp. 151-173
Author(s):  
Andrew Briggs ◽  
Michael J. Reiss
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Religious Conviction ◽  
Final Cause ◽  
Very Young Children ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Time’S Arrow

Purpose can be understood in various ways. For Aristotle, purpose is the ‘final cause’ of a phenomenon, its end. Does the Universe have a purpose? It certainly has a history and a direction, and Arthur Eddington coined the phrase ‘time’s arrow’ to indicate its direction. The fine-tuning that the Universe manifests has given rise to various interpretations of the anthropic effect. For biologists, even the simplest organisms seem to manifest purpose, although they cannot act intentionally. Humans (setting aside very young children and those who are severely mentally incapacitated) can act intentionally and can make choices. Someone with a firm religious conviction may see the purpose of their life as responding appropriately to what they believe God is calling them to do.

scholarly journals Cosmological constant decaying with CMB temperature

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (06) ◽  
pp. 1950088 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomohide Sonoda
Keyword(s):  
Cosmological Constant ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Field Equations ◽  
Microwave Background ◽  
Dark Energy Density ◽  
Dimension Formula ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Hierarchical Structure ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Cmb Temperature

Recent observations of the dark energy density have demonstrated the fine-tuning problem and the challenges faced by theoretical modeling. In this study, we apply the self-similar symmetry (SSS) model, describing the hierarchical structure of the universe based on the Dirac large numbers hypothesis, to Einstein’s cosmological term. We introduce a new similarity dimension, [Formula: see text], in the SSS model. Using the [Formula: see text] SSS model, the cosmological constant [Formula: see text] is simply expressed as a function of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature. The result shows that both the gravitational constant [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are coupled with the CMB temperature, which simplifies the solution of Einstein’s field equations for the variable [Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text] model.

scholarly journals Fine tuning of parameters of the universe

2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 891-899 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.G. Rubin
Keyword(s):  
Fine Tuning ◽  
The Universe

The heavens are declaring the glory of God: Contemporary teleological arguments

2014 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 244-258
Author(s):  
John M. DePoe
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Temporal Order ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
The Third ◽  
Teleological Argument ◽  
Christian Apologetics ◽  
Argument From Design ◽  
The Universe

This article presents an overview of various formations of contemporary teleological arguments with a brief historical background. The fine-tuning argument and three of its most well-known objections are considered first. Next, the argument from design based on the origins of life is presented. The third teleological argument is based on the temporal order of the universe. The final section of the article considers and responds to well-known objections commonly raised against design arguments. The conclusion is that the contemporary versions of the teleological argument have a positive role to play in Christian apologetics despite some of their limitations.

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