The Anthropic Principle: Science or God?

One of the most common points of tension between science and religion is the Design Argument – an argument for the existence of an intelligent designer/creator of the universe or God. Individuals who tend to identify with one of the Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) often also believe in a God who created the universe, although it is important to note that not every person agrees here. On the other hand, public opinion often says that scientists do not support the Design Argument because they are studying how the universe was ‘actually’ created, which leads to some tension between the two groups. 

However, there is some logical support for the Design Argument originating from scientific data: the Anthropic Principle, also known as the Observation-Selection Hypothesis. While there are different takes on the hypothesis, this article will briefly cover how it relates to physics and the Design Argument.

In general, the Anthropic Principle states that the parameters of the universe are exactly what they are so that life (intelligent, conscious life) would ultimately be produced. The following are examples of factors that happen to be just right for life to be possible:

• The electromagnetic force is 39 times stronger than gravity, but if they were more evenly matched, stars would not survive long enough for life to develop on an orbiting planet.

• If gravity were 1 part in 1040 stronger, the universe would have utterly collapsed long ago.

• If the combined mass of a proton and electron were slightly more than the mass of a neutron (rather than slightly less as it currently is), then the hydrogen atom would become unstable, which would collapse stars like the Sun.

• If the mass of neutrinos (the most abundant particles with mass in the universe) was 5 x 10-34 kg instead of 5 x 10-35 kg, the universe would be contracting rather than expanding.

  
  

There are many more examples, but isn’t it strange how absolutely exact the strengths of these kinds of fundamental forces are? This is the line of reasoning that leads to the Design Argument. How could the universe be so incredibly exact to produce life, unless it was specifically created that way? Such questions are asked by Science and Religion scholars, and while there are no answers yet, it opens the conversation up to explore what information different fields have to offer.

Written by Amber Elinsky

REFERENCES

Davis, John Jefferson. “The Design Argument, Cosmic ‘Fine Tuning,’ and the Anthropic Principle.” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 22, no. 3 (1987): 139–50. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40018832.

Gale, George. “The Anthropic Principle.” Scientific American 245, no. 6 (1981): 154–71. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24964627.