David Beck and I recently presented a paper on God and the multiverse at the annual Evangelical Philosophical Society conference in Milwaukee, WI on November 14, 2012. In this paper we argue that if a multiverse exists then it is harmonious with theism. Not only do we argue that it’s compatible with theism but we develop a distinctly Christian approach to it. We trace the idea of many worlds back to the pre-Socratics, which contributed to a theistic framework. We use Thomas Aquinas, Leibniz, Kant, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and others to create a Christian model of modal realism. We have called our model “Thomistic Modal Realism.” We plan on explicating the paper and submitting it for publication soon. Please feel free to comment and leave feedback in the comment section. Any and all appropriate/substantive feedback will help us strengthen our model.
This Week’s Annual EPS Conference
Tomorrow morning Leah and I will be flying out to Milwaukee, WI for the annual Evangelical Philosophical Society conference at the Hyatt Regency. I have coauthored a paper with Dave Beck titled “God and the Multiverse.” In it we develop a new model of modal realism, what we call Thomistic Modal Realism. Below is the abstract of our paper.
Wednesday 14 Nov.
10.10—10.50 (Hyatt Executive B)
W. David Beck
Max L. E. Andrews
(Liberty University)
God and the MultiverseRecent developments in quantum physics postulate the existence of some form of multiverse. We will argue that a cosmology of many worlds is not novel either to philosophy or to theism. The multiverse is not a monolithic concept and we will refer to and use the four levels of categorization proposed by Max Tegmark. We will trace the idea of a multiverse back to the pre-Socratics, Plato and Aristotle in order to initially demonstrate its fit with a concept of God.
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The Multiverse Directory
I have gathered together all my posts relevant to the multiverse. Since this is one of the biggest topics on the blog, I thought having all the posts gathered into one place would make finding the content much easier.
- What is This Thing Called String Theory?
- The Fine-Tuning of the Multiverse Lecture Audio
- The Multiverse and Causal Abstract Objects
- An Outline of Tegmark’s Four Levels of the Multiverse
- This History of the Multiverse and the Philosophy of Science
- The Theological Attraction of the Multiverse
- Hugh Everett and the Many Worlds Interpretation
- Decoherence
- Physical Evidence of the Multiverse
- The Multiverse, Fine-Tuning, and Nomic Probabilities
- The Exceptions to the BVG Theorem
- Loop Quantum Cosmology in the Cosmic Microwave Background
- I’m Presenting a Paper at EPS on God and the Multiverse
- Plantingan Modal Realism
- Nonlocality as Evidence for a Multiverse Cosmology
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I’m Presenting a Paper at EPS on God and the Multiverse
This November (Wednesday 14 – Friday 16) The Evangelical Philosophical Society is hosting its annual meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The conference theme is ‘Caring for Creation.’ David Beck and I have coauthored a paper together titled, “God and the Multiverse,” which has been accepted to be presented at the conference. We requested to present on Friday but we’ll get that figured out in due time. You can read the abstract of the paper below. I hope you’re able to make it to the conference.
Recent developments in quantum physics postulate the existence of some form of multiverse. We will argue that a cosmology of many worlds is not novel either to philosophy or to theism. The multiverse is not a monolithic concept and we will refer to and use the four levels of categorization proposed by Max Tegmark. We will trace the idea of a multiverse back to the pre-Socratics, Plato and Aristotle in order to initially demonstrate its fit with a concept of God. We then examine the argument for possible compatibility based on a principle of plenitude in three specifically Christian theists: Origen, Thomas Aquinas, and G. W. Leibniz. We conclude that this argument is sustainable so that if any level of the multiverse actually exists then it is harmonious with theism.
Liberty University
W. David Beck and Max Andrews
The Free Exchange in the Marketplace of Ideas
The English poet John Milton did well when he said that “Truth will rise to the top through a free and open exchange in the marketplace of ideas.” I am so encouraged when I have and see a substantive dialogue with someone concerning an issue. This is certainly important in every day discussions, blogs, and teaching. I assist in managing and teaching an Intro. to Philosophy course at university and I always encourage my students to make us work hard to convince them of what we believe to be true. Do not simply sit there and take what I say and teach prima facie–challenge me, challenge the thoughts, challenge your thinking.