The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning: Why the Universe Is Not Designed for Us Review

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(More customer reviews)Vic Stenger is an experimental physicist who, since retiring, has turned his attention to metaphysics. He has written eight books, six of which are on the general theme of the misuse of science to support religion, alternative medicine, and other superstitions. The "fine tuning" of the title refers to the idea that values of various physical quantities could not be even slightly different than they are in our universe and still permit life to exist. Some religionists have seized on this idea as evidence that a creator god "fine tuned" those values just for us. And even many agnostic and atheist scientists have been impressed by the fine tuning of some parameters like the cosmological constant.
Stenger examines each of the fine tuned parameters that have been touted as essential to a life-friendly universe. He brings to bear a sweeping knowledge of physics and explains why each claim of fine-tuning is either entirely misconceived or is not nearly so "fine" as claimed. You can learn quite of bit of physics reading this book and even better you can learn to think like a physicist. The presentation can be followed by anyone who took high-school physics, but Stenger also includes some mathematical exposition that requires calculus to fully appreciate. Here the reader needs to watch out for some typos in the equations. If they look wrong or confusing, check online. The physics and mathematics is all standard stuff and easily checked. If you have Stenger's purely physics book, "The Comprehensible Cosmos" take a look in it.
In looking over reviews of Stenger's other books, I see that he is criticized for not proving that God doesn't exist or that some fad or superstition is false. I expect this book will draw the same criticism. This is a misunderstanding of what he is doing. He doesn't propose to prove that a creator God doesn't exist. In fact he has said that the god of deism, a creator who doesn't meddle in his creation, is a possible god. What he does prove is there is no evidence for a creator god; and specifically in this book, no evidence of fine tuning. Everything about the universe looks as one might expect if the universe arose by natural processes out of nothing.
Stenger briefly considers the idea of a multiverse, the idea that any natural process producing our universe would, absent some special principle, also produce arbitrarily many other universes. This would answer the question as to why the universe is fine-tuned for life: the answer being that of course life occurs in those universes friendly to life. Although Stenger doesn't reject the multiverse idea, he considers it unnecessary for answering the fine-tuning argument because he has shown there is no fine-tuning. Furthermore, he notes that the Bayesian inference argument of Mike Ikeda and Bill Jeffery shows that any observation that the universe is fine-tuned could only count as evidence *against* a god.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that my name appears in the acknowledgements of this book.

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A History of Greek Philosophy: Volume 2, The Presocratic Tradition from Parmenides to Democritus Review

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(More customer reviews)One of the truly remarkable intellectual achievements of our time, Guthrie's magisterial six volume History of Greek Philosophy, is, within the compass of my reading, the most comprehensive rendering of the golden epoch of Western Philosophy available. The sheer magnitude of the research collected, sorted, and weighed here is enough to recommend, but this work offers much more than a survey of leading interpretations. Many a major commentary, ancient and modern, receives a fair hearing for each argument analyzed both in the text and in extensive notes. One only wishes Guthrie were eternal that he might have been able to include all that has and will come in the way of analysis since publication of these texts in the 1960's with the same judicious acumen.
On immersing oneself in these many pages, over and again, one is struck by the centrality and the exhaustive nature of the venture. While such a scope of endeavor is bound to be open to controversy on any number of particulars, and Guthrie is not without critics, the distance traversed is staggering, and the work, in its point-by-point detailed coverage, assumes an authority on the achievement of such breadth alone. But it is the analytic depth of Guthrie's treatment of the arguments that for me holds the greater value. For the many treasures on display in these pages shine ever more brightly due to the loving care with which they are presented in view of their developmental contexts.
Among the finer features of Guthrie is the headliner on each page, providing focus for the narrative, in the style of the annotated Jowett Plato. Organization of the chapters under topical rubrics contributes to the superior organization of the work itself and, along with the extensive Indexes, makes reference within this dense field blessedly user-friendly.
If you love Archaic (Pre-Socratic) Greek Philosophy like I do, I feel that there is no better practice than to regularly inter yourself in the first two volumes of Guthrie. I've been asked which is the best investment for a book on early Greek Philosophy. The best-known one-volume histories all have their virtues. Of these, Barnes is probably most useful, very good on the Eleatics and Xenophanes, not so comprehending of Herakleitos, the Milesians, and others. The writing tends to be nuanced in a very Anglo-analytic, somewhat technical, orientation. Kirk and Raven don't thrill me much either as writers or analysts, and make what a number of commentators feel are erroneous judgments. Not nearly as thorough as Guthrie, their book on balance is - sufficient. The old Burnet is quite good at times, but now has been antiquated on many points by later, more accurate readings (discussed in Guthrie). Nietzsche's study, translated as "Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks" is definitely worth a read (what did Nietzsche ever write that wasn't?), but was not intended as comprehensive scholarship. All considered, the first two volumes of Guthrie easily outpace the field, and for pure enjoyment of uniformly superb scholarship, copious citations, and solid, accessible writing, are more than worth the expensive price tag. Splurge! You're buying the best.

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