Tag: Alex O’Connor

^{Type
post

Author
Bruce Gordon

Date
March 27, 2026

Categories
Fine-tuning
Philosophy
Physics
Tagged
, Alex O’Connor, background knowledge, Bayesian formalism, Bayesian reasoning, belief, Big Bang, calculus, conditionalization, cosmology, deductive logic, Dutch book arguments, fine-tuning, Fisherian hypothesis testing, inference to the best explanation, John Maynard Keynes, logic, Mercury, naturalism, Nevin Climenhaga, null distributions, philosophy, precession, probability, propositions, psychological states, rejection regions, Sean Carroll, Socrates, subjective interpretation, syllogism, The Fine-Tuning Argument and Its Cultured Despisers (series)}

The Objective Probability of the Fine-Tuning Evidence

_{Bruce Gordon
March 27, 2026

Fine-tuning, Philosophy, Physics

11}

Science and philosophy aim to explain aspects of the world and of our experience, and both offer judgments about what is correct or incorrect. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Bruce Gordon

Date
March 17, 2026

Categories
Cosmology
Faith & Science
Philosophy
Tagged
, Alex O’Connor, assumptions, background information, Bayes factor, Bayes’s theorem, Bayesian confirmation theory, Bayesian reasoning, Clark Glymour, confidence, denominators, Dutch book argument, epistemic probabilities, evidence, fine-tuning, fine-tuning argument, general relativity, General Theory of Relativity, hypothesis, likelihood, likelihood ratio, marginal probability, mental state, Mercury, naturalism, Nevin Climenhaga, normalization factor, panpsychism, pantheism, posterior probability, prior probability, probabilities, psychological states, Sean Carroll, subjectivism, subjectivist Bayesianism, The Fine-Tuning Argument and Its Cultured Despisers (series), theism, universe}

Bayesian Methodology and the Fine-Tuning Argument

_{Bruce Gordon
March 17, 2026

Cosmology, Faith & Science, Philosophy

17}

To use Clark Glymour’s example, Einstein's general theory of relativity explained the anomalous precession of Mercury's perihelion. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Bruce Gordon

Date
March 11, 2026

Categories
Cosmology
Physics
Tagged
, Alex O’Connor, Aristotelian cosmos, Copernican displacement, cosmic enormity, cosmic scale, cosmology, Dante, demotion, divine hiddenness, fine-tuning, fine-tuning argument, Hell, human centrality, intelligent cause, intelligibility, methodology, motivation, natural philosophy, naturalism, posteriors, priors, promotion, Psalms, Robert B. Stewart, Satan, scientific revolution, Scripture, Sean Carroll, Stephen Meyer, The Blackwell Companion to Christian Apologetics, The Fine-Tuning Argument and Its Cultured Despisers (series), theism, theology, Timothy McGrew, universe}

Sean Carroll and the Counter-Evidence Considered

_{Bruce Gordon
March 11, 2026

Cosmology, Physics

9}

My present concern is to articulate and confront Carroll's charge that the fine-tuning argument engages in some evidential shenanigans. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Bruce Gordon

Date
February 27, 2026

Categories
Cosmology
Physics
Tagged
, Alex O’Connor, Andrew Loke, Bayesian reasoning, Boltzmann brains, Borde-Guth-Vilenkin theorem, chemistry, Chris Smeenk, cosmology, fine-tuning, fine-tuning argument, Ian Hacking, Ken Olum, Kenny Boyce, loop quantum cosmology, Luke Barnes, naturalism, nuclear physics, Philip Swenson, philosophers, Porter Williams, quantum mechanics, Roger White, Sean Carroll, stellar structure, The Fine-Tuning Argument and Its Cultured Despisers (series), theism}

Fine-Tuning and the Infinite Multiverse

_{Bruce Gordon
February 27, 2026

Cosmology, Physics

10}

An endless multiverse is a context in which every outcome occurs infinitely many times, rendering calculations of probability ill-defined. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Bruce Gordon

Date
February 18, 2026

Categories
Cosmology
Intelligent Design
Physics
Tagged
, Alex O’Connor, Bayesian reasoning, cosmology, fine-tuning, Hans Halvorson, Humean probabilities, likelihood ratio, Luke Barnes, mathematicians, metaphysics, monotheistic tradition, multiverse, Ned Hall, Nevin Climenhaga, personal beliefs, philosophers, philosophy, plausibility, podcasters, Presbyterians, priors, probability, psychological states, Robin Collins, Sean Carroll, spacetime, subjective inclinations, The Fine-Tuning Argument and Its Cultured Despisers (series), theism, theology, theoretical physicists, Thomas Bayes}

Framing a Finely Tuned Response to a Chorus of Critical “Carrollers”

_{Bruce Gordon
February 18, 2026

Cosmology, Intelligent Design, Physics

11}

Using Sean Carroll’s criticisms of the fine-tuning argument as a general guide, I propose to address objections to that argument. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Bruce Gordon

Date
February 13, 2026

Categories
Cosmology
Physics
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, Alex O’Connor, atheists, background theory, Bayesian reasoning, constants, cosmologists, cosmology, E. F. Hutton, Eric Hedin, fine-tuning, fingerprints, Friedrich Schleiermacher, galaxies, God of the gaps, gravity, Hans Halvorson, human centrality, Leonard Susskind, Luke Barnes, multiverse, philosophy of science, physicist, quantum mechanics, scientific reasoning, Sean Carroll, The Fine-Tuning Argument and Its Cultured Despisers (series), theism, theists, Victor Stenger}

The Fine-Tuning Argument and Its Cultured Despisers

_{Bruce Gordon
February 13, 2026

Cosmology, Physics, Scientific Reasoning

19}

Carroll is a prolific physicist and cosmologist who has been a prominent popularizer of science. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Eric Hedin

Date
February 11, 2026

Categories
Cosmology
Physics
Tagged
, Alex O’Connor, Bible, cosmologists, electromagnetic force, engineering, fine-tuning, gears, Genesis, gravitational force, Hugh Ross, intelligent design, life, logical necessity, mechanical watches, multiverse, natural agency, naturalism, parameters, physical parameters, probability, Psalmist, Psalms, religious faith, Sean Carroll, The Creator and the Cosmos, theism, theists, theology, time-keeping, universe, watchmaking, wheelbarrow, world view}

Wheelbarrows, Watches, and Designers: More on Sean Carroll

_{Eric Hedin
February 11, 2026

Cosmology, Physics

7}

Describing luxury mechanical watches as “marvels of engineering and design” is not a religiously motivated claim. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Eric Hedin

Date
February 10, 2026

Categories
Cosmology
Physics
Tagged
, Alex O’Connor, atheists, cosmology, designer, earth, Earth-mass stars, elements, existence, experimental evidence, fine-tuning, intelligent life, laws of nature, life, low-mass stars, materialism, multicellular life, multiverse, natural processes, observational evidence, Sean Carroll, stars, sun, theoretical physicists, universes}

Why a Multiverse Doesn’t Refute Fine-Tuning

_{Eric Hedin
February 10, 2026

Cosmology, Physics

5}

With the multiverse hypothesis, a key supposition is that the physical parameters within alternative universes somehow vary over an undefined range. Read More ›