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EIU Humanities Center Annual Faculty Lecture.

The Cosmic Fine-Tuning Argument is one of the most intriguing arguments for the existence of God. There are, of course, a number of common objections to this argument. In this talk, Dr. Jason Waller will argue that none of the most common objections to this argument are successful. Specifically, he will argue that the supposition of a Multiverse in itself is not (contrary to popular belief) problematic for defenders of this argument, that the argument is not (as is widely supposed) subject to an Observer Selection Effect, and that the premises of the argument are not unhelpfully strong (as even some important defenders of the argument claim).

This discussion will concern one of the most interesting and controversial recent arguments for the existence of God. Dr. Jason Waller (Eastern Illinois University) will defend the claim that God’s existence is more likely than not on the basis of a simple “fine-tuning” argument. Dr. Rich Foley (University of Missouri) will argue that Dr. Waller’s new attempt to defend this argument is unsuccessful.

Dr. Jason Waller is an assistant professor of Philosophy at Eastern Illinois University. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from Purdue University in 2009. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles and his first book, on the Enlightenment atheist philosopher Baruch Spinoza, was just published this year.