FINE-TUNING ARGUMENT
90the Hebrew patriarchs to the contem-
porary kings of Europe. His other works
include Freeholder’s Grand Inquest (1648),
Anarchy of a Limited and Mixed Monar-
chy (1648), Observations (1652), and The
Power of Kings (1680).
FINE-TUNING ARGUMENT. The fine-
tuning argument is a version of the teleo-
logical argument for the existence of God
based on the so-called fine-tuning of the
cosmos for life. “Cosmic fine-tuning”
refers to the widely accepted claim that
the laws and certain fundamental num-
bers (i.e., constants) of physics, along with
the initial conditions of the universe, must
have been set with enormous precision in
order for life to exist, particularly embod-
ied conscious beings of our level of
intelligence. For example, it is commonly
claimed by physicists that if the cosmo-
logical constant—a fundamental number
that influences the rate at which the uni-
verse is expanding—were not within one
part in 10^120 (i.e., 1 followed by 120 zeroes)
of what physicists consider its natural
range of values, the universe would have
expanded too rapidly, hence practically
eliminating the possibility of life evolving.
There are three basic responses to this
fine-tuning. First, some appeal to some
sort of transcendent cause—such as
God—to explain the existence of a life-
permitting universe. Second, advocates of
the so-called multiverse hypothesis claim
there are an enormous number of regions
of space-time, with a wide variety of
different constants, initial conditions, or
even laws, and hence it is likely that
at least one region would have just the
right combination for life. Finally, some
say that the existence of a life-permitting
universe was just an extraordinarily lucky
accident and that there is no further
explanation for our existence.
Although many advocates of the
fine-tuning argument claim that God is
the best explanation for the existence of
a life-permitting universe, they need not
make this claim. For example, Scottish
physicist and mathematician, John Leslie
speculates that the transcendent cause
is some Platonic principle of “ethical
requiredness,” whereas Robin Collins, an
American philosopher, prefers to think
of the fine-tuning argument as only
providing confirmation for theism, not
as claiming that theism offers the best
explanation of our universe.FIRST CAUSE ARGUMENT. A version
of the cosmological argument, according
to which the cosmos had a first cause
either in time (in which case the cosmos
has a beginning) or in the order of being.
In the latter case, the cosmos may have
had no beginning but its nature and being
is possible only because of the reality and
activity of a first cause. Arguments for a
first cause deny there can be an actual
infinity of explanations or causes.FIVE WAYS, THE. The customary term
for Aquinas’ five arguments for the