PHL 110 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Big Crunch, Anthropic Principle, Current Science
6 May 2019
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Document Summary
Teleological arguments for god"s existence - cosmological: fine-tuning (section 4. 1) A tiny change in the law of physics would make life impossible anywhere in the universe. Expansion rate of the universe represented by . If were slightly greater, there would be no energy sources (such as stars) If were slightly less, the big bang would"ve been a big crunch - the universe would collapse back onto itself. For life to be possible, must be exactly what it is now. Life depends on a balance of carbon and oxygen in the universe. If the strong nuclear force were different by 0. 4%, there would not be enough of one or the other for life to exist. Varying this constant either way would destroy almost all carbon or almost all oxygen in every star. Many examples of fine-tuning have to do with star formation. Important because life requires a variety of elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus.
