strengths and weaknesses of cosmology

STRENGTH: big bang theory

• Major strength of the big bang theory is the empirical evidence supporting it, such as the Cosmic Background Radiation (CMBR), discovered by Penzias and Wilson (1965).

• Stephen Hawking argues that the discovery of CMBR provides strong empirical backing for the idea that the universe had a definite beginning. 

• CMBR is the conclusive evidence for the Big Bang Theory. Temp of deep space has been measured at around 3K, not absolute zero due to the afterglow of the big bang. 

• Strong argument because scientific observations align with the predictions of the Big Bang model- 

• Counter: Kalam Cosmological

WEALMESS: Kalam cosmo

m Lane Craig, argues: 

1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause. 

2. The universe began to exist. 

3. Therefore, the universe must have a cause. 

This is a strong weakness because the Big Bang Theory does not provide a causal mechanism for the origin of the singularity, making it incomplete as a full explanation of the universe's existence. 

doesn’t explain WHY just how

Dawkins + river out of eden

• the universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference’ 

• Religion ‘subverts science and saps the intellect’. Religion has negative effects on the education of science 

• His book ‘The God delusion’ relentlessly points out the logical fallacies in religious belief and ultimately concludes that the laws of probability preclude the existence of an omnipotent creator 

• He used the book as a platform to launch the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, and organisation that sought to foster the acceptance of atheism and championed scientific answers to existential questions 

COUNTER to dawkins: tennent

The Fine-Tuning Argument suggests that the fundamental constants of nature (like the gravitational constant, the electromagnetic force, etc.) are so precisely balanced that if they were slightly different, life would be impossible. This precision is often seen as evidence for a designer (usually God). 

Strength: Improbability and Design 

• The fine-tuning of the universe is often presented as so unlikely that it’s best explained by a deliberate designer. If the constants were even slightly different, life as we know it wouldn’t be possible. 

COUNTER to tennant: evolution

survival of fittest etc