Probability in fine-tuning design arguments

Abstract

This paper examines probabilistic versions of the fine-tuning argument for design (FTA), with an emphasis on the interpretation of the probability statements involved in such arguments. Three categories of probability are considered: physical, epistemic, and logical. Of the three possibilities, I argue that only logical probability could possibly support a cogent probabilistic FTA. However, within that framework, the premises of the argument require a level of justification that has not been met, and, it is reasonable to believe, will not be met anytime soon.

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Kent Staley
Saint Louis University

Citations of this work

The fine-tuned universe and the existence of God.Man Ho Chan - 2017 - Dissertation, Hong Kong Baptist University

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References found in this work

The anthropic cosmological principle.John D. Barrow - 1986 - New York: Oxford University Press. Edited by Frank J. Tipler.
The Design Argument.Elliott Sober - 2019 - Cambridge University Press.
.R. G. Swinburne - 1989 - Cambridge University Press.
The Existence of God.Richard Swinburne - 1979 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press UK.
Epistemic justification.Richard Swinburne - 2001 - New York: Oxford University Press.

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