Synthese 198 (Suppl 16):3727-3745 (2019)
| Abstract |
We critically analyze the rationale of arguments from finetuning and naturalness in particle physics and cosmology, notably the small values of the mass of the Higgs-boson and the cosmological constant. We identify several new reasons why these arguments are not scientifically relevant. Besides laying out why the necessity to define a probability distribution renders arguments from naturalness internally contradictory, it is also explained why it is conceptually questionable to single out assumptions about dimensionless parameters from among a host of other assumptions. Some other numerological coincidences and their problems are also discussed.
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| DOI | 10.1007/s11229-019-02377-5 |
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References found in this work BETA
Naturalness, the Autonomy of Scales, and the 125GeV Higgs.Porter Williams - 2015 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 51:82-96.
Cosmology and Convention.David Merritt - 2017 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 57:41-52.
Which Fine-Tuning Arguments Are Fine?Alexei Grinbaum - 2012 - Foundations of Physics 42 (5):615-631.
Challenges to Bayesian Confirmation Theory.J. D. Norton - 2011 - In Philosophy of Statistics: Volume 7 in Handbook of the Philosophy of Science 7:391-439.
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Citations of this work BETA
When Do We Stop Digging? Conditions on a Fundamental Theory of Physics.Karen Crowther - 2019 - In Anthony Aguirre, Brendan Foster & Zeeya Merali (eds.), What is ‘Fundamental’? Springer. pp. 123-133.
Quantum Gravity at Low Energies.David Wallace - 2022 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 94:31-46.
View all 11 citations / Add more citations
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