In this version, I am going to make a subtle switch in the emphasis of the argument from the scale of the universe to the fact that humans don’t have a privileged position (spatially or temporally) in the universe.[1] Preliminaries B: The Relevant Background Evidence 1. A physical universe, which operates according to natural laws … The Argument from Scale (AS) Revisited, Part 4

In part 2 of my series on the evidential Argument from Scale (AS), I concluded that neither metaphysical naturalism nor theism explain the evidence regarding the scale of the universe, if we restrict our background knowledge to the two propositions I identified as B1 and B2. In this post, I want to explore the effect of … The Argument from Scale (AS) Revisited, Part 3

Originally published on 14-Nov-11; updated 20-Nov-11 In part 1 of my series on the evidential Argument from Scale (AS), I concluded that Everitt’s formulation of AS is unsuccessful. At the same time, however, I said that there is something about the AS I find intuitive and so I wanted to try revising AS as a … The Argument from Scale (AS) Revisited, Part 2

There is something about Nicholas Everitt’s argument from scale for atheism that appeals to my intuitions, but I haven’t been able to quite put my finger on what it is. So I’m going to try to reformulate the argument from scale as a Bayesian argument. Before I do, however, let’s review Everitt’s formulation of the argument. … The Argument from Scale (AS) Revisited, Part 1

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