Fine-tuning Fine-tuning
Book chapter
Hawthorne, John and Isaacs, Yoaav. (2018). Fine-tuning Fine-tuning. In In M. A. Bentone, J. Hawthorne and D. Rabinowitz (Ed.). Knowledge, Belief, and God: New Insights in Religious Epistemology pp. 136 - 168 Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198798705.003.0008
Authors | Hawthorne, John and Isaacs, Yoaav |
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Editors | M. A. Bentone, J. Hawthorne and D. Rabinowitz |
Abstract | This chapter argues that the fine-tuning argument for the existence of God is a straightforwardly legitimate argument. The fine-tuning argument takes certain features of fundamental physics to confirm the existence of God because these features of fundamental physics are more likely given the existence of God than they are given the non-existence of God. And any such argument is straightforwardly legitimate, as such arguments follow a canonically legitimate form of empirical argumentation. The chapter explores various objections to the fine-tuning argument: that it requires an ill-defined notion of small changes in the laws of physics, that it over-generalizes, that it requires implausible presuppositions about divine intentions, and that it is debunked by anthropic reasoning. In each case it finds either that the putatively objectionable feature of the fine-tuning argument is inessential to it or that the putatively objectionable feature of the fine-tuning argument is not actually objectionable. |
Keywords | fine-tuning arguments; laws of physics; Bayesian probability; existence of God; confirmation; fundamental physics |
Page range | 136 - 168 |
Year | 2018 |
Book title | Knowledge, Belief, and God: New Insights in Religious Epistemology |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Place of publication | United States of America |
ISBN | 9780198798705 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198798705.003.0008 |
Scopus EID | 2-s2.0-85050323185 |
Research Group | Dianoia Institute of Philosophy |
Publisher's version | File Access Level Controlled |
https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/89667/fine-tuning-fine-tuning
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