Chapter 2 Why Anything Why This PDF

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Chapter 2: Why Anything? Why This? 1. Derek Parfit (1942-2017) a. Ethics, personal identity, consequentialism, philosophy of mind, reasons and pearsons b. The Upshot i. Parfit is considering various answers to the questions: 1. Why does the universe exist? 2. Why is it as it is rather than some other way? ii. The questions may be unanswerable, but we learn about the nature of possibility and explanation by considering them. 2. Why is there something rather than nothing? a. Can the answer be casual? i. Normally, we think that a cause must exist in order to produce an effect. b. What is the universe is eternal? c. What is there is an infinite series of causes and effects that goes on forever? d. Suppose the universe is not eternal, and nothing proceeds the big bang. i. Is a random fluctuation in a vacuum nothing? e. Would positing the existence of God gives us a casual answer? f. Does this question make sense? g. If no causal answer, no answer? h. “Doubt can only exist, where there are questions, and questions only where there are answers” - Wittgenstein i. “No question is more sublime than why there is a universe; why there is anything rather than nothing.” - Parfit 3. Why think that there is a cause? a. The universe appears “fine-tuned” - the chance that the initial conditions would allow the development and maintenance of life is one in a billion billion. 4. What needs explaining? a. “There had to be some initial conditions, and the conditions that make life possible were as likely as any others?” b. Telescope picking up a random sequence of wave patterns versus the first hundred digits of pie c. Lottery where a million people have numbers and one will win versus one straw drawn from a million d. Our universe seems like the second lottery 5. Life is special a. Revision of the old “design” or “teleological” argument for the existence of God i. The idea is that some feature of the world appears more likely to have been designed by intelligence than come about by chance ii. The argument is now used to say that since the initial conditions of the universe had to be just so for life to evolve and persist, we should think that the universe is designed 6. But thing have changed

a. The original design argument claims that life on Earth is special and in need of explanation i. But there are many planets, and evolutionary processes can explain how life came to be on ours. b. The new argument is subject to a similar objection. i. The many worlds hypothesis: we can only see one universe, but there may be more that we cannot see c. Which is more likely - an omnipotent, omniscient, wholly good god, or the existence of many universes 7. 2 kinds of possibility a. Cosmic possibility - covers everything that ever exists, and are the different ways that the whole reality might be. i. Only one cosmic possibility can obtain b. Local possibility - the different way that some part of reality, or local world, might be. i. Many local possibilities could exist. c. All worlds hypothesis - every local possibility exists d. The null possibility - no local possibility exists 8. Argument for multiple universes from explanatory value a. If a particular possibility makes a puzzling fact easier to explain, then we have more reason to believe that this possibility obtains b. If there is only one big bang, then complexity and life are hard to explain. c. If there were many big bangs, then complexity and life are not hard to explain d. Thus, we have more reason to believe in many big bangs rather than just one big bang. e. Parfit thinks that the multiple universe theory is more explanatory 9. Could there be a theory that leaves nothing unexplained? a. Axiarchic (Literally “source of value or goodness”) View: the universe exists because it is good for it to exist. b. Three claims of the axiarchic view: i. It would be best is reality were a certain way ii. Reality is that way iii. (1) explains (2) 1. The third claim is the important one 2. Does not appeal to entity, but an explanatory principle. 10. What can we learn from the axiarchic view? a. A universe could have a special feature that causes it to obtain b. The universe's existence is no coincidence, it obtains because it has this feature. c. Here, the “because” is not casual, it is explanatory. 11. Selectors a. A “selector” is a special feature which explains the obtaining of a cosmic possibility b. Special features: maximal, minimal, elegant, simple, good, full, varied, nonarbitrary, etc.

c. The selector could explain why some agent (intentional) or some process of natural selection (evolutionary) makes this universe obtain. d. Partial selectors: When there is more than one special feature. e. Null possibility - that nothing ever exists i. Selector: simplicity, minimality, or non-arbitrariness f. All world’s hypothesis - that every local possibility exists i. Selector: maximization, variety g. Physicist’s dream - only worlds with the most mathematically beautiful fundamental laws exist i. Selector: mathematical beauty/ simplicity h. Brute fact view - no special features discernible i. Selector - none 12. How can we make judgments about selectors? a. Consider the two spherical iron stars cases: i. Universe 1 : these are the only things existing and they move randomly ii. Universe 2; they move in a dance and are shaped like queen elisabeth or robert downey jr 1. In saying universe 1 is more likely, we are not saying it is more likely to obtain, just that it’s intrinsically more likely iii. Probabilistic selectors: make a cosmic possibility more likely to obtain, even if they do not obtain iv. Effective selectors: make a possibility obtain 13. Credible Selectors a. What’s more likely to happen? i. Reality happens to have this feature ii. Reality exists bc it has this feature 14. Is there an end to this? a. Selectors for selectors? i. Ex: Maximality is chosen because it is good b. In this example “maximality” would explain the fact that the world is the way it is and “goodness” would explain why that way (of all the possible ways) obtain. c. Can this go on as infinitium? i. It is likely that the end of explanation is a brute fact 15. Where we stand a. The null possibility i. Reason to reject: observation b. Axiarchic View i. Reason to reject: value does not seem to rule reality c. Brute Fact i. Reason to reject: No fact can refute it, but the special features would make it less likely d. God i. Reason to reject: Lack of simplicity; problem of evil e. All worlds Hypothesis

i. ii.

Reason to reject: the discovery of special features like being completely rule-governed or simple laws...