Screams for explanation: finetuning and naturalness in the foundations of physics

Synthese 198 (Suppl 16):3727-3745 (2019)
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Abstract

We critically analyze the rationale of arguments from finetuning and naturalness in particle physics and cosmology, notably the small values of the mass of the Higgs-boson and the cosmological constant. We identify several new reasons why these arguments are not scientifically relevant. Besides laying out why the necessity to define a probability distribution renders arguments from naturalness internally contradictory, it is also explained why it is conceptually questionable to single out assumptions about dimensionless parameters from among a host of other assumptions. Some other numerological coincidences and their problems are also discussed.

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Citations of this work

Calling for Explanation.Dan Baras - 2022 - New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
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References found in this work

Naturalness, the autonomy of scales, and the 125GeV Higgs.Porter Williams - 2015 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 51:82-96.
Cosmology and convention.David Merritt - 2017 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 57:41-52.
Probabilities in Physics.Claus Beisbart & Stephan Hartmann (eds.) - 2011 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press.
Introduction.Claus Beisbart & Stephan Hartmann - 2011 - In Claus Beisbart & Stephan Hartmann (eds.), Probabilities in Physics. Oxford University Press.
Two Notions of Naturalness.Porter Williams - 2019 - Foundations of Physics 49 (9):1022-1050.

View all 7 references / Add more references