Halpin, John F. (2022) Fine-tuning and Humean Laws: Fine-tuning as argument for a non-governing account of laws rather than for God or multiverse. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Many physics parameters need to be precisely set in order for life to exist in our universe. Or so says the fine-tuning argument. That the actual values are just right for
life, the argument concludes, is a fact in need of deep physical or metaphysical explanation. Perhaps, the story goes, the parameter values settings are a matter of
divine design. Or perhaps they result from a selection effect given our place in the “multiverse”. However, a very different approach to the problem is possible. One may
argue that the fine-tuning is an artefact of theorizing: it is explicable as the precise balancing act necessary for compact, systematic representation in science. Given such
an explanation and drawing on earlier work from a number of sources, this essay shows how fine-tuning is best understood as evidence for a non-governing conception of laws rather than for design or multiverse.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Halpin, John F. halpin@oakland.edu 0000-0002-7025-495X
Keywords:	Best-System Account; Humeanism; fine-tuning; PBSA
Subjects:	General Issues > Laws of Nature Specific Sciences > Physics
Depositing User:	Dr. John F. Halpin
Date Deposited:	24 Apr 2022 18:11
Last Modified:	24 Apr 2022 18:11
Item ID:	20499
Subjects:	General Issues > Laws of Nature Specific Sciences > Physics
Date:	21 April 2022
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/20499

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