Cosmologic philosophy: 5 articles on fine tuning (Introduction)

by dhw, Friday, November 25, 2016, 12:04 (2708 days ago) @ David Turell

David’s comment: the universe sure looks designed to me. And to you?

dhw: I can’t see the universe. Nobody can. We can only see part of it. But I agree, the part that affects us directly does look designed. On the other hand, billions of solar systems coming and going to no apparent purpose look pretty un-designed. It’s the same old monkey on a typewriter quandary. Given possible eternity and infinity, maybe anything is possible, and maybe it isn’t. Let’s just be mighty thankful that we are the lucky ones, no matter how it all happened.

DAVID: Billions of solar systems follow a design for solar systems. Why does that design exist? A reason for their existence is not yet apparent from our scientific observations, but like the human retina which looks totally wrong, reason may be found.

Sometimes theists and atheists seem to me like mirror images of each other. Here is Dawkins: he says there is nothing beyond the physical world “except in the sense of natural phenomena we don’t yet understand. If there is something that appears to lie beyond the natural world as it is now imperfectly understood, we hope eventually to understand it and embrace it within the natural.” (God Delusion, p. 14)

Not yet apparent…may be found…don’t yet understand…we hope eventually…Faith is a wonderful leveller. However, one of you must be groping through the right fog!