02 towards a new apologetic kogarah oct 2014

8/10/2019 02 Towards a New Apologetic Kogarah Oct 2014

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Towards a NewApologeticThree lectures by Protopresbyter Dr Doru Costache on the Anthropic

Cosmological Principle and its usefulness for a contemporaryChristian apologetic

Greek Orthodox Youth Fellowship of Kogarah13, 20 & 27 October 2014


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Towards a NewApologetic

20 Oct - The Main Formulations ofthe Anthropic Principle

Thinking anthropically entails

radical adjustments of thecurrent understanding of reality


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ThinkingAnthropicallyRecapitulating my description: The anthropic

cosmological principle is a complex

philosophical and scientific narrative, whichproposes the integration of all aspects ofreality - as perceived by modern culture -namely, human, biological and cosmic. And

because human conscience can no longer beignored as significant in the making ofreality, meaning and purposefulness can nolonger be ignored.


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ThinkingAnthropicallyIn the perspective [] of these reaches of space and time, is not

man an unimportant bit of dust on an unimportant planet in anunimportant galaxy in an unimportant region somewhere in the

vastness of space? No! [] Meaning is important, is even central. It isnot only that man is adapted to the universe. The universe is adaptedto man. Imagine a universe in which one or another fundamental[] constants of physics is altered by a few percent one way or theother? Man could never come into being in such a universe. That isthe central point of the anthropic principle. According to thisprinciple, a life-giving factor lies at the centre of the wholemachinery and design of the world. John A. Wheeler, Foreword toJohn D. Barrow and Frank J. Tipler, The Anthropic CosmologicalPrinciple (Oxford and New York: Clarendon Press and OxfordUniversity Press, 1986) vii-ix, vii.


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ThinkingAnthropicallyWhen we look at the universe and identify

the intricate accidents of physics and

astronomy which have worked in concert forour benefit, everything seems to havehappened as though the universe must insome sort have known that we were to appear.

Jean-Pierre Lonchamp, Science and Belief,trans. by Dame Mary Groves, OSB (Middlegreen,UK, and Kildare, Ireland: St Pauls, 1993) 129.


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ThinkingAnthropicallythe universe is the way it is because

from the outset it is established so thatit can produce a thinking being whichcan know it.

Jean-Michel Maldam, Le Christ et lecosmos: Incidence de la cosmologiemoderne sur la thologie (Descle,Paris, 1993) 100 (my translation).


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Looking at theAnthropic Principle

Three main formulations

Weak Anthropic Principle (WAP)

Strong Anthropic Principle (SAP)

Final Anthropic Principle (FAP)


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WAPDefinition: The observed values of all physical andcosmological quantities are not equally probable but theytake on values restricted by the requirement that thereexist sites where carbon-based life can evolve and by therequirement that the Universe be old enough for it to havealready done so.

Observation: A scientific principle, based on the evidencethat observations are restricted by the parameters of theobservers.

Barrow and Tipler, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle 16.


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SAPDefinition: The universe must have those properties which allow life todevelop within it at some stage in its history.

Observation A speculative principle.

Interpretations:

There exists one possible Universe designed with the goal ofgenerating and sustaining observers. Observation Based on thecoincidences of the constants and religious in nature

Observers are necessary to bring the Universe into being. Observation Also known as Participatory Anthropic Principle (PAP), being basedon quantum physicsAn ensemble of other different universes is necessary for theexistence of our Universe. Observation Based on quantum physics

Barrow and Tipler, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle 21-22.


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FAPDefinition: Intelligent information-processingmust come into existence in the Universe, and,

once it comes into existence, it will never die out.Observation A speculative principle, based onthe properties of the universe, being endowedwith moral values and implying the existence of

a melioristic universe.Barrow and Tipler, The Anthropic CosmologicalPrinciple 23.


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WisdomFar from being blind, the complex process of cosmicevolution seems to be mystically conditioned towardslife and the human existence.

Since everything conspires toward our existence, theneverything has a meaning and a purpose. In the lightof all this, can values (= ethics) and God (= theology)be any longer discarded as scientifically irrelevant?Lets think of possible practical applications of thisnew way of thinking!


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A New AllianceRestating my original proposition: Insofaras it discloses the meaningfulness of auniverse conditioned by/toward ourexistence, with or without it beingendowed with theological connotations the

anthropic cosmological principle opens upnew avenues for the dissemination of theChristian worldview and values today.

02 towards a new apologetic kogarah oct 2014

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