Splitting the (In)Difference: Why Fine-Tuning Supports Design

Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 11 (1):14-23 (2022)
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Abstract

Given the laws of our universe, the initial conditions and cosmological constants had to be "fine-tuned" to result in life. Is this evidence for design? We argue that we should be uncertain whether an ideal agent would take it to be so—but that given such uncertainty, we should react to fine-tuning by boosting our confidence in design. The degree to which we should do so depends on our credences in controversial metaphysical issues.

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Author Profiles

Chris Dorst
University of Florida
Kevin Dorst
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

References found in this work

Laws and symmetry.Bas C. Van Fraassen - 1989 - New York: Oxford University Press.
The Existence of God.Richard Swinburne - 1979 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press UK.
Stop Making Sense? On a Puzzle about Rationality.Littlejohn Clayton - 2018 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research:257-272.
The existence of God.Richard Swinburne - 2004 - New York: Oxford University Press.
The design argument.Elliott Sober - 2004 - In William Mann (ed.), The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Religion. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 117–147.

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