Welcome!

Thomas Gilby OP wrote, "Civilisation is formed by men locked together in argument." Our hope in this blog is to help generate a good healthy argument by challenging common assumptions about the question of God's existence. This blog is a resource for my students--and anyone who is interested--studying topics in the philosophy of relgion at A Level and beyond.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Strong Anthropic Principle & Fine-tuning


Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University, Owen Gingerich, points to the fact that the periodic table does not have any atomic mass of five; this is because atomic masses increase in weight increments of four (twelve being carbon, which is necessary for life). Yet the periodic table not only contains everything necessary for life, it lacks nothing necessary for life. It is finely-tuned.
Other scholars, such as physicist Robert Dicke, have noticed how this fine-tuning could not have occurred randomly. In fact, human evolution is controlled by certain factors that ensure human existence. If evolutionary changes were completely random, natural selection would not be evident because it would not be possible.

No comments: