Date

5-2013

Department

College of Arts and Sciences

Degree

Master of Arts In Philosophical Studies (MA)

Chair

W. David Beck

Primary Subject Area

Philosophy; Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics; Religion, General; Physics, Theory; Physics, General

Keywords

Cosmology, Fine-tuning, Information, Multiverse, Philosophy of Science, Quantum

Disciplines

Astrophysics and Astronomy | Cosmology, Relativity, and Gravity | Philosophy | Philosophy of Science | Quantum Physics | Religion

Abstract

The multiverse hypothesis (the view that there is not just one world or universe in existence, bur rather that there are many) is the leading alternative to the competing fine-tuning hypothesis (the laws of physics and constants are fine-tuned for the existence of life). The multiverse dispels many aspects of the fine-tuning argument by suggesting that there are different initial conditions in each universe, varying constants of physics, and the laws of nature lose their known arbitrary values; thus, making the previous single-universe argument from fine- tuning incredibly weak. The position that will be advocated will be that a form of multiverse could exist and that any level of Tegmark's multiverse does not circumvent the fine-tuning argument for the existence of a fine-tuner (a mind). An argument will be presented suggesting that the multiverse could strengthen the fine-tuning argument by narrowing down the parameters of the data to a more fundamental description needed for the multiverse to function as it does since it may be the case that some physical descriptions are not the same in every universe. That is, the task of explaining how the multiverse mechanism functions cannot be accounted for by the multiverse itself. Fine-tuning by a mind serves as a sufficient and best explanation for the data.

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