The Fine-Tuning Argument and the Requirement of Total Evidence

Philosophy of Science 84 (4):639-658 (2017)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

According to the Fine-Tuning Argument, the existence of life in our universe confirms the Multiverse Hypothesis. A standard objection to FTA is that it violates the Requirement of Total Evidence. I argue that RTE should be rejected in favor of the Predesignation Requirement, according to which, in assessing the outcome of a probabilistic process, we should only use evidence characterizable in a manner available before observing the outcome. This produces the right verdicts in some simple cases in which RTE leads us astray, and, when applied to FTA, it shows that our evidence does confirm HM.

Similar books and articles

The fine-tuning argument.Neil A. Manson - 2009 - Philosophy Compass 4 (1):271-286.
Fine-tuning as evidence for a multiverse: why White is wrong. [REVIEW]Mark Douglas Saward - 2013 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 73 (3):243-253.
Fine-tuning and the infrared bull’s-eye.John T. Roberts - 2012 - Philosophical Studies 160 (2):287-303.
God, fine-tuning, and the problem of old evidence.Bradley Monton - 2006 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 57 (2):405-424.
The teleological argument.Robin Collins - 2007 - In Paul Copan & Chad V. Meister (eds.), Philosophy of Religion: Classic and Contemporary Issues. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. pp. 202–281.
Does God So Love the Multiverse?Don N. Page - 2010 - In Melville Y. Stewart (ed.), Science and Religion in Dialogue. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 380--395.
Fine Tuning and the Multiverse.Rodney Holder - 2006 - Think 4 (12):49 - 60.

Analytics

Added to PP
2017-06-21

Downloads
1,192 (#9,770)

6 months
148 (#20,072)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Peter Epstein
Brandeis University

References found in this work

Naming and Necessity: Lectures Given to the Princeton University Philosophy Colloquium.Saul A. Kripke - 1980 - Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Edited by Darragh Byrne & Max Kölbel.
Naming and Necessity.Saul Kripke - 1980 - Philosophy 56 (217):431-433.
Naming and Necessity.Saul Kripke - 1980 - Critica 17 (49):69-71.
Naming and Necessity.Saul Kripke - 2003 - In John Heil (ed.), Philosophy of Mind: A Guide and Anthology. Oxford University Press.
Logic of Statistical Inference.Ian Hacking - 1965 - Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

View all 22 references / Add more references